Sandown and Shanklin 17 – 17 Lymington Mariners

Sandown and Shanklin 17 – Lymington Mariners 17

Saturday 18^th December 2010

Mariners show true grit in icy conditions

Lymington Mariners defied the wintry conditions to travel to the Isle of Wight to play the Sandown and Shanklin ‘Hurricanes’ last Saturday. The pitch picturesquely covered in a layer of snow and ice did nothing to help the game as the ball quickly resembled a wet bar of soap, covered in grease with a light sprinkling of extra virgin olive oil.

Unfortunately the Lymington squad travelled lighter than expected as it lost 4 of its number before even setting off from the mainland. Callum Kellas went through two cars before having to give up and return home to Winchester, Chairman Ludlow ready to leave his house was taken unawares by a  hangover, whilst James Bell and Jamie Bolwell preferred a trip to Southampton to go shoe shopping together followed by a romantic dinner for two.

When the Mariners finally arrived at the Sandown and Shanklin ground the omens weren’t good as most of their first and second team had arrived with kit bags but with no opposition to play.

Within minutes of the game starting there was barely a knee or elbow that wasn’t bloody with the effects of sliding across the icy surface but it was Mikey Jenner doing his best to break the bob skeleton world record along the left wing whose dermabrasion injuries were most impressive

Mariners were the quicker out the blocks and were soon camped in the opposition’s half of the pitch. The forwards were completely dominant in the set pieces and the backs, particularly with Steve O’Callaghan and Phil Jenner in the centres, formed an impenetrable line leaving Sandown with little option but to kick most of their ball.

15 minutes in and Phil Jenner executed his party piece to perfection, stepping into the Sandown line to snaffle an interception and break for the line to score. Chris Scott-Bowden at fly half added the conversion for a 0-7 lead.

Lymington continued to pressure the Sandown and Shanklin line and could have been a further two tries up had it not been for a dropped pass and a rush of blood to Pete Rolfe’s head which meant although he crossed the line with the ball in hand it’s next contact was with air instead of the ground. At the time these set backs seemed insignificant as such was Lymington’s dominance that it felt like only a matter of time before the points started rolling in.

Indeed it was shortly after that Mariners got their second try when from a five metre scrum No.8 Lee Thomas picked up and popped the ball to stand-in scrum half Jamie Banasik who had the simple task of beating off three defenders before touching down. The conversion was missed and Lymington went to the break 0-12 up.

Knowing the game was slipping away from them the Hurricanes decided to use the break to load their team with even more players from their more senior teams. The changes they made were telling and from the restart the game became a much more even affair and it wasn’t long before the home side scored its first try.

Again the Hurricanes came at Lymington and scored a bizarre second try when, with a maul on the Lymington line and the ball at the Mariners’ feet and over the try line, one of their players reached through and applied the necessary downward pressure to level the score 12-12.

Undeterred the Mariners rallied and after thwarting a sustained period of Sandown attacks started to move away from their line. Then following some excellent work in the tight by the front eight the backs sent the ball through all the hands before finding full back Craig Esterhuizen flying along the touchline who outstripped the covering defenders to score in the corner.

According to Sandown’s match report  - ‘The last ten minutes Sandown put everything in to get back in the game’. However they omitted the second half of the sentence which should have read ‘including their first team players’. Then with only a minute or so left on the clock, a bad kick turned good for Sandown as it landed to one of their first team backs who managed to find space down the left wing to score a long range effort to level the score at 17-17.

With time running out neither team was able to make the decisive move and the game ended a disappointing draw. Despite the game being another epic encounter in difficult conditions and many of the Mariners putting in some massive performances Secretary Thomas and Captain Cavell were too bitter with the Sandown and Shenanigans selection policy to congratulate the opposition on robbing two valuable league points from the club.

However the bitter taste was soon washed away as the journey home involved 6 different drinking establishments, including a very unimpressed Graze (ask Chris, Anthony and Jack why wearing club ties there may not be the best way to get served in future), and a very tasty Rivaaz curry.

The ‘Lymington Rivaaz Man of the Match’ award this week could have gone to any one of numerous players. Ben Bradley-Watson and Nick Bubb were everywhere, Rob Charley on his first full debut for the club was a rock in the scrum and tight play, Dom Ellis and Charlie Cutler worked tirelessly and all the backs were immense considering the conditions. However this week it has to go to Mike Jenner who put in a near faultless performance on the left wing – defensively neither runner nor kicked ball got past him and in attack his strong running continually made great territorial gains.

If you’d like to see some pictures of the game visit the Sandown and Shanklin website. For pictures of many of their players named in the match report click on the ‘first team players and coaches’ page

Lymington Mariner’s next match is on Saturday 8^th January at home against Southampton in a league match, 2.15pm kick off.

Sandown & Shanklin have since been removed from the league and a away win awarded.