Sandown and Shanklin 19 Andover 39

ANDOVER showed once again that they are in this league to stay by destroying Sandown and Shanklin on their own patch with a display of frightening efficiency.

The Oakwood-sponsored All Blacks gave away a string of early penalties to gift the host club a 6-0 lead but once their forward power began to tell, the result was never in doubt.

On a narrow pitch it was difficult for Andover to bring their dangerous wide men to bear, so it was left to the pack to gradually turn the screw.

Their dominant display at scrum and lineout, where Alex Morgan was superb, drew praise from even the Sandown faithful and when Marc Wilding finished a push-over try the scene was set, and soon Nic Reed added a second try.

Before the break another dominant scrum saw wing Elliott Copestake go over in the corner, but another silly penalty gifted Sandown three points to keep them in the hunt.

Just after the break Sandown came back to within three points with a further kick, but Charlie Waite replied in kind for Andover to ease nerves and Andover suddenly hit another gear.

After the umpteenth scrum penalty the referee finally lost patience with Sandown and awarded Andover a penalty try, much to the joy of front rows Carl Sievewright, Tom Waite and Alex Hibidge.

Waite converted, but soon brother Tom was sin binned and Sandown could have been forgiven for expecting some respite with Andover down to seven forwards and no hooker.

They could think again however, as Andover simply drove over for another push over try finished by Wilding and converted by Waite, to completely assert their dominance.

With Tom Waite back in the fray Andover poured forwards and went close several times, before one of the tries of the season put the icing on the cake.

Franklin fed Dave Catt in his own 22 and the young winger broke free to make a 50m dash deep into the Sandown half.

Kane was at the breakdown in a flash and he fed Charlie Waite whose clever cross kick put Copestake away for a glorious try, which youngster Waite converted superbly.

 

Sandown and Shanklin II 22 Andover II 22

ANDOVER II travelled with the first XV to play Sandown and Shanklin II and showed just how much this team has improved this season.

Sandown soon opened the scoring and the same player was at it again crashing through to get his second score within ten minutes.

Andover settled and as they took control played some great rugby and Josh Gibbs put points on the board with a penalty.

With the scores locked at 22 -22 and only two minutes left Andover a Josh Gibbs penalty on the half way drifted agonisingly wide but promising youngster Krishna Gurung and Dan Joliffe refused to give up, and as Sandown struggled to clear Krishna forced an error which Joliffe pounced on to claim the try.

In a cruel twist the referee stated he had not seen the grounding and refused to award the try, much to the frustration of the players.

Afterwards manager Jody Morgan was full of praise for his team: ‘We were excellent today after a slow start and have showed terrific spirit to bounce back from our experience at the hands of Havant. We have got ourselves together, trained hard and showed we can be a team to be reckoned with.”