A New year beckons for Havant AXV but it was back to business as usual for James Hewitt and his merry men. A water logged pitch before the Christmas break allowed for the pending fixture to be re arranged and let the festive pounds be shed a little earlier than expected for the blossoming team. A bonus point win would ensure they took top spot for the first time this season, with the other teams not coming back to action till next week and having a game in hand over league leaders Petersfield. As a result of the postponement Havant needed to take advantage of the generous helping of players available following the festive holiday.
As ever a few late changes to the publicised teams for James Hewitt to deal with , David King, Sam Walker and Graham Butterworth were called up to the Dolphins , Jon Barfoot engaged himself in a late trip to Heathrow , but late call ups for the already unfortunate players that had previously missed out this week, Havant looked strong in depth to take on the travelling Isle of Wight , who themselves fielded a very strong “Club” squad.
It was great to finally see Tom “first half” Sutton back in a Havant shirt , elusive so far this season due to work commitments , but an outstanding player and great club prospect in the pack, with only a few games under his belt this season. He was joined by the right honourable Lord Mayor of Hayling and supplier of our scared Christmas dinners Sam Wilson in the front row with Captain James Hewitt . Dom Francis had finally just about sobered up after 5 weeks following The Mariners Hampshire cup win and was available once again after the lengthy layoff to team up with in the second row with Mr Lover lover Matt Godwin who had also recovered from a concussion . Rowen Brooker and Mick Bacon kept their shirts respectively at 6 & 8 following the tough win at Totts in the previous run out and young gun Harry Parker returned after a few months out, due to what looked to be on social media, a run of family gatherings and party’s??? But!! I guess deep down… we are all suckers for an opps upside your head remix and the Macarena.
Ben Santy was back again and looking very sharp at scrum half , The machine James McCann looked as tanned as ever, despite the cold spell of weather at stand off , the Welsh wizard himself Leighton Davies was available as always at 12 , The Big G and Havant talisman Grant Morris stepped in at 13 to help pull the strings in the midfield , Youngster and Havant academy product Charlie Malone was able to increase his senior experience on the right wing, The flying Scotsman Dean Duthie , managed to get away from his endless list of home chores and decorating jobs to play on the left wing, following a very productive 2 weeks working at home. His lovely wife Danni was said to be over the moon with the newly refurbished dusky pink utility room and that stood him in good stead for a run out following his recent run of nose bleeds and unavailability .
Completing the starting line up at fullback and the other half of our wailian double act, Adam Terry was again on hand to add some calm and composure the final line of defence. On the bench ……, it looked like him, it sounded like him, but was it really Jamie Libby that had appeared, after a nearly a year out of the game, some part time vigilante work and a lot of flakiness, the Horndean bruiser was back !!!. Back in the Havant shirt and his 50 minute contribution was a blinder when he replaced Lord Wilson halfway through the first half following a knock. In addition his heartfelt tales and anecdotes of sextoys and copulation returned to the dressing room to bring a smile to the faces of the squad and make their Christmas and new year complete.
With a tough game at hand McCann started the game , his perfectly white teeth glistening in the winter sunlight as the ball was lofted high. IOW gathered well , a short exchange of rucks lead to a knock on and an away scrum , the ball was put in quickly , Brooker was quick to react to the lose ball that shot out and turned the ball over in Havant’s favour , some smart forward play followed until some space was created ,then the backs did the damage, Santy lofted a high kick over from the bottom of the ruck and Duthie finished well in the left hand corner. McCann struggled from range but Havant had drawn first blood. Havant dominated the next period and Duthie was quick to complete his hat trick in the 20 minutes that followed , Morris created the space for the second with a well-timed run off the shoulder of Davies, Godwin and Bacon were quick to respond in support, Santy made a quick dart to the blind side from the base of the ruck and a perfectly timed pass left the Scotsman with and easy finish in the corner for the brace. The third was a bit harder for the sensitive Scotsman , but again created by Santy’s quick thinking and another switch to the blindside , Libby took the ball forward with a crashing run, the offload was gathered in well by Bacon who also made good yards to with in 5 meters , a scrabble from both teams saw the ball pop out via Santy again and Duthie’s switch from left to right was rewarded with a touchdown, this time under the posts. McCann finally found his kicking boots and Havant were 19 points up.
The Isle of wight then responded well, a converted try for the away team, was cancelled out quickly with a thunderous run inside from Tom Sutton, who was still on the pitch , then just before Half time, the Islanders were over again to close the gap. Silly mistakes had let the away side back into the game as they finished the period with a breakaway try . At half time the experienced words of Morris and Hewitt rang true as perhaps a it of white line fever had struck in the AXV ranks.
Half time Havant AXV 27 – 12 Isle of Wight II
Havant received the kick off to start the second half, the visitors had made a few changes from the starting line up and seemed to come out stronger and bigger in the second half. I can only imagine a few first teamers retuning from injury and looking to get some valuable game time was the reason. Brooker took the ball well and Havant started the attack . The fresher bulkier Island pack started to get on top of the game and Havant lost possession quickly, a dominating 5 minutes from the away side saw them close the gap with a well worked forward try in the right hand corner , the kick was missed but it was just the kick Havant needed to kick start their game again. The Havant defence was now looking solid and stronger than ever before in the game so far , Tom Sutton was still on the field breaking his own personal best for minutes played in a match, Havant had just simply gone up a gear and righted the wrongs of the first half blip. With the blue and white machine now in full flow they slowly started to pick away at the visiting team , Davies was first to increase the score as he finished a well worked team effort, Harry Parker started his senior try count when he was rewarded for his stirling performance at openside flanker with 5 points , Morris had moved to the back row, but was still rolling back the years with his link up play , Bacon, Francis and Godwin continued to batter the away side back with some powerful running and the visitors just had no where to go. Then with 10 minutes to go the best was save till last , Godwin slipped into a gap and stormed off like Forest Gump looking for his Jenny to complete the scoring with a 70 yard finish from his own half , with the slight incline to the right, the downhill run to the left made the big lumberjack unstoppable as he ran the ball home. McCann who had struggled from the tee during the game completed the haul and finished the game with another conversion. Tom Sutton was still on the pitch to celebrate the victory and the mighty Hav took the 5 points and the Table summit .
Final score Havant AXV 39-17 Isle of Wight combined XX