FORDINGBRIDGE completed the league double over Isle of Wight following a 51-22 victory in Snows Hampshire One.

But it was the islanders who scored first but failed with the conversion and this was followed almost immediately with a try from ’Bridge by Mark Hammond in the corner. Mat Norton made the conversion for a slim lead.

This was further stretched to seven points when Harry Hitchings touched down. But in a match of this calibre and high scoring rate, it was not long before the visitors closed the gap with an unconverted try of their own.

However, three unanswered tries from Alex Tattersall, Ross Bealey and Peter Scott saw the home side stretch the lead to 29-10. The islanders never gave up and scored another try but their hopes of a recovery were dashed by Tattersall’s second try of the afternoon and Dan Brown’s first just before the half ended.

At the break, Fordingbridge had a pretty unassailable lead at 41-15 with the bonus point secure as well.

As the second period got underway, Dan Brown carried on where he had left off scoring the opening try and another from Will Knight meant that the only thing left for the islanders was the chance of a four try bonus point.

A head injury to Peter Scott forced a pitch change to finish the match.

The home side were under constant pressure and the IOW scored in the dying moments of the game to earn a well-deserved bonus point.

Both captains agreed that, despite the score line, it had been a superb game of rugby played in great spirit.

The high-scoring victory sees ’Bridge in fourth place.

Two hat-tricks, from Rufus Wallis and Archie Gavin, contributed to the 13 tries scored by Fordingbridge seconds in their 73-0 hammering of rock-bottom Oakmedians’ thirds at the weekend in Dorset and Wilts 3 South.