Ellingham and Ringwood colts win Hampshire title

Published: 00:00, 15 February 2019

Ellingham and Ringwood Colts: Back row, left to right, Nathan Searle, Zachary Leishman, Sam Harrison, Louis Harling (c), Zach Lillis, Owen Dingle, David Edmunds, Robert Wakefield, Stephen Whitehouse and Andrew Rollett. Front l to r, Ted Johnson, Ben Evans, Aaron Moritzen, Paddy Johnson, Will Hannah, Josh Balais, James Morris and Adam Kalim

Hampshire League: Ellingham and Ringwood Rugby Club Colts 63-0 Fareham Heathens

ELLINGHAM AND RINGWOOD RFC’S Under 18 won the Hampshire Colts League after a stunning victory against Fareham Heathens.

The pressure was on from the start, as Ellingham and Ringwood Colts needed a maximum bonus points victory to win the league.

The first try of many

The first try came after just five minutes. Robert Wakefield fly hacked the ball and the Ellingham support arrived in numbers with James Edward Morris crashing over.

E&R fielded the restart and quickly found their structure with fly-half Louis Harling having forwards on his shoulder and keen to carry. Stephen Whitehouse, working with Connor Marshall and David Edmunds, pulled in Fareham defenders before ball was neatly moved wide through the backs’ hands for Zachary Leishman to score.

Three minutes later Leishman repeated the exercise. The powerful pod of Andrew Rollett, James Dyoss, Robert Wakefield and Owen Dingle came into play with Wakefield and Dingle scoring under the posts.

Fareham threatened several times in the first half, but the E&R defence was organised and vocal with memorable tackling, in particular from Jack Grey.

Fareham’s backs looked good with the ball in hand, but the line speed of the E&R defence forced errors. Paddy Johnson intercepted a forced pass and raced 50 metres to score under the posts.

Fareham tried to use the strong wind to their advantage with a kick and chase game, but each time full back Sam Harrison fielded and returned their kicks with interest. The first half ended with a hat-trick try for Leishman followed by a succession of quick phases that allowed Teddy Johnson to put Adam Kalim in at the corner.

Different half, same story

Aaron Moritzen, Ben Evans and Josh Balais came on in the second half and made their mark with neat work resulting in a try for Moritzen.

Soon after E&R were in again as defenders scrambled to cover multiple attacking options, Leishman dummied and went over.

Fareham did not give up and were prevented from scoring by a fine chop tackle by Balais on their big number 8.

The final try was a display of sprinting down the right-hand touchline with Adam Kalim beating two desperate cover tackles and running around to dot down under the posts.

Rugby Dee Flanagan