THE Isle of Wight Rugby Club narrowly lost a high-scoring and entertaining game against Chichester on Saturday.

ISLE OF WIGHT 32, CHICHESTER II 39

The match, held at Wootton Rec, was an opportunity missed for the home side as they dominated possession and territory, but failed to be as clinical as their opponents.

The game began in scrappy fashion, with Chichester scoring a try within the first 10 minutes.

This was a bad start for IW, compounded by the loss of their reliable full-back Dan Ward to injury.

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However, IW quickly responded, with fly-half George Huish jinking past defenders to level the scores on the 16th minute.

Despite both teams being in the bottom half of the league, Chichester showcased their attacking prowess by scoring their second and third tries.

IW's second try, executed with a textbook lineout catch and drive, was scored by front-row stalwart Martin Newnham.

The score stood at 15-10 to Chichester, with IW camped in the Chichester 22 for much of the match but unable to convert their pressure into points.

A disheartening moment came when IW's captain, Luke Blackman, seemingly scored a fine try, only for the opposition touch judge to claim that Huish was in touch when offloading the final pass.

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IW were also held up over the line by a well-executed covering tackle.

Chichester survived the onslaught and made the most of their next attack, scoring a converted try to lead 22-10 at halftime.

After the break, IW redoubled their efforts, with Ben Hart, Sam McQueen and Kevin Blackburn at the heart of the action.

Despite being held up over the line again, IW's energetic and direct play was rewarded when Huish cut a great line to crash over.

With 20 minutes remaining, Huish’s conversion levelled the scores at 22-22.

However, Chichester quickly responded with a breakaway try followed by another to restore their 12-point lead.

IW struck back, with Huish scoring under the posts to complete his hat-trick, narrowing the margin to 29-34.

Despite holding much of the second-half territorial advantage, IW were unable to prevent Chichester from scoring an injury-time try to secure their victory.

IW's last attack of the game resulted in a penalty in front of the posts, which they opted to convert.

This brought Huish’s personal tally to 22 points and secured his team a second bonus point for losing by seven.

Despite their defeat, these two bonus points move IW up a place in the league table.

Their next match is an away game against Fareham Heathens.