FORDINGBRIDGE's winning start to 2016 came to an abrupt halt at the hands of Isle of Wight in Snows Hampshire One.

The Islanders avenged the reverse defeat with a 43-26 triumph.

In the first of their two consecutive trips to the Isle of Wight, heading to Sandown and Shanklin on Saturday, Fordingbridge went down to IOWRFC in a superb game of rugby in beautiful conditions.

The game did not start well for the visitors when, after a prolonged period of pressure on the home side's try line, Mike Wood scored in the corner. Although unconverted, an almost immediate second try, this time from Brett Evans, which Harry Dye converted, put the hosts 12-0 up within 20 minutes.

The visiting side responded well with two consecutive tries, one from Dan Brown and the other from Charlie Boyns. Mat Norton converted both.

In a high scoring half, Dan Stirrup and Wood added two more tries to give the hosts a 24-14 cushion.

At the start of the second period, the visitors pulled back two tries through Peter Scott and Josh Goodchild after Evans had scored his second try, Dye adding the extras.

The hosts went on to score a further 12 points, Wood and Stirrup scoring under the posts and Dye converting once more.