A LAST-minute conversion miss cost the Hurricanes victory against a strong Guernsey seconds side at the Fairway on Saturday.
HURRICANES 31, GUERNSEY II 32
The match was a fiercely contested affair, with both teams having periods of possession.
But it Guernsey who took an early lead with a penalty in this Counties 1 Hampshire encounter.
Sandown and Shanklin responded quickly, with veteran Gary Warvil scoring a try and stand-in captain Sam Flux converting.
Guernsey retook the lead with another try, but Sandown and Shanklin fought back.
Luke Hunter's try and conversion put them ahead 14-10.
Guernsey scored again to make it 15-14.
The Hurricanes then scored two more tries through Luke Wedderkop and Max Fletcher, to take a 26-15 lead into half-time.
However, Guernsey came out strongly in the second half, scoring three tries and taking the lead at 32-26.
But the Hurricanes didn't give up and replacement winger George Finan crossed the line in the dying moments.
This left them with a difficult conversion to potentially win the match.
Flux took the kick, which sailed narrowly wide, leaving the Islanders agonisingly losing the match by a point.
A spokesperson for the Hurricanes said: "It was a hard-fought game, with some great performances.
"The team showed determination and grit, but were just edged out at the end.
"We'll learn from this and come back stronger."
The Hurricanes face a tough away game against table-toppers Havant seconds on Saturday (March 1).
