VENTNOR 25, ALTON 41

For their opening fixture in Hampshire 1, Alton faced a round trip of 120 miles, including a one-hour return ferry crossing.

To minimise costs, Alton 2nd XV’s away fixture in Hampshire 4 against Ventnor was brought forward a week. So 29 players left Alton at 10.30am on Saturday for a long day out.

The exercise was to prove well worthwhile with two victories on the Isle.

Alton 1st XV were up against a more experienced and bigger side. Undeterred, they took the game to Ventnor and, within five minutes, were awarded a penalty which Cameron Hamer turned into three points.

This served to wake the home team up and using their well-built back line, they hammered the Alton defence.

This held up well, although Alton were reduced to 14 men when Grant Alexander suffered a nasty-looking knee injury. Eventually numbers prevailed and Ventnor scored an unconverted try.

Hamer kicked another penalty, only for the islanders to reply with another unconverted try; 10-6.

This stung the visitors into serious action and they began to run at their opposite numbers, distributing the ball before the tackle and eventually outpacing the home backs to put right-wing Ryan Bale over the line on the stroke of half-time. Hamer converted and Alton led 13-10.

Ventnor closed the gap three minutes into the second half with a penalty, but the next half-hour was all Alton. Outmanoeuvring, and outpacing Ventnor, they ran in four further tries, two by Bale to give him his hat-trick and two for Hamer, who converted all four to take his personal contribution to 26 points.

Leading 41-10, Alton’s efforts began to take a toll and Ventnor scored two converted tries to secure a bonus point. Their try-scorers were Justinas Urbonas, Ross Harris, Jake Babington and Calvin Edwards

A great effort by Alton, considering their lack of numbers, and they were delighted to learn that their 2nd XV had also won, 28-26, despite finishing the match with only 13 men.

The quirks of the fixture-list mean that Alton will face another island team when they welcome Isle of Wight to Anstey Park this Saturday. The match is a double-header, the league fixture and the Hampshire Plate quarter-final (ko 3pm).