Saturday saw an early start for the West as they made the journey out to Sanday for the Isles first home game of the season. With the West and Isles players safely off the boat and the Shapinsay and Eday players arriving on a launch there were enough players for a 12 aside game with some isles boys playing for the West.

With no ref it was decided the more experienced players on the field would oversee the refereeing throughout the game with Gareth taking responsibility for most of the decision making.

With a strong wind blowing diagonally across the pitch the isles kicked off into the wind and proceeded to score two quick tries which were both converted by Pansy Jnr whose kicking was excellent all game. The West rallied and came back with Pigeon making a fine break shaking off two tackles to run in under the posts.  The isles didn’t let this break there momentum and continued to scored another two good tries, Darren Muir running through two tackles to go over in the corner for the first and after concerted pressure Mark Lawlor picked up from a ruck and drove over under the posts for the second. With both sides playing with 12 players it made for a fast flowing game with plenty of room for both backs and forwards to make breaks. With more fine rugby being played and tries being scored by both sides the home support was being well entertained. Raymond Brown picked up a nasty cut on his chin just before half time which required 10 stitches which resulted in him missing the second half.

Half time came and the teams turned around, the wind had eased by now which made for perfect playing conditions. With a few alterations to the playing personnel the second half kicked off. First-class open rugby was played with strong running by players on both sides, in particular, Edrian Skea, Darren Muir and Zack Dingle (Dave Shearer). The West showed that they were more than capable, by scoring an excellent try, involving five players with great support play and passing out of the tackle.

The Isles not to be out done also scored another nice try, the ball was spun out wide to Edrian Skea who passed it back inside to Pansy Jnr  who in turn passed it out to Toorie who ran in under the posts. The Isles scored again a few minutes later with Scott Garson just managing to get over in the corner after it looked like he had been stopped short, nevertheless he stretched out an arm and got the ball down over the line. The match ended with the Isles running out winners by 89-40.

The Isles debutants were Edrian Skea, Graham Clarke and Leo Kerr who all showed excellent passing and tackling throughout the game.

James Muir, Raymond Brown, Nicol Holland, Darren Muir and Scott Garson all deserve a mention for showing great potential with straight running and determination. Fraser, playing his second game at scrum half was outstanding, he showed great confidence and was very vocal.

The West man of the match went to Pigeon (Gary Kemp) and Darren Muir was awarded man of the match for the Isles players.

This was the first game played in the Isles and hopefully the first of many more. Thanks must go to Mark Lawlor for providing food after the game to Zak Dingle for all the time and effort put into organising the game and in particular to all the players, especially the West and the other Isles players that made the effort and travelled to Sanday.

Toorie