Match report: Third-placed Ellingham & Ringwood beat Portsmouth 18-5 in hard-fought Hampshire Counties One victory

Ellingham & Ringwood’s three senior sides were all in action this weekend at the Raymond Brown Memorial Ground, with all three sides victorious.

The men’s first team defeated Portsmouth 18-5 to preserve their third-place spot, the women secured a hard-fought 34-33 victory over Reading, and the men’s second team destroyed Lytchett Minster 41-14.

Before the kick-off, there was a minute’s silence in memory of ex-Ellingham & Ringwood player Jake Wiltshire, who sadly passed away at the age of only 56, as well as Tom Voyce, ex-England international, who also died too soon at the age of 43.

In bright winter sunshine, the first team’s game kicked off, with the home team looking to extend their winning run to six games and maintain their push for promotion.

In an attritional game of rugby, both defences worked extremely hard to ensure the attempts to breach the opposition’s try lines were made as hard as possible.

Ellingham thought they had done so twice in the first half, but the referee felt that Portsmouth had successfully held up first hooker Pat Fraser and then captain and scrum-half Sammy Veneroso just before the break.

Despite the lack of tries, Ellingham led the game 6-0 at the break thanks to Chris Frost’s boot. His first effort came in the 15th minute for a high tackle from the visitors and another one shortly after in the 19th minute following another indiscretion from a Portsmouth player.

In the 51st minute, Porstmouth scored the game’s first try with a breakaway from deep inside their own 22. Portsmouth stole possession after ripping the ball out of number eight George Randall’s grasp before attacking quickly to score in the corner. A missed conversion left the score at 6-5.

Conceding spurred Ellingham into action and, attacking the Specsavers end of the ground, they scored their first try of the game with first-team debutant Dan Gollings darting and avoiding several tackles before diving over in the corner.

Both sets of forwards refused to back down in the tackle and ruck areas of the game. Eventually, Ellingham Prop Adam Payne twisted and turned his way over the try line just after the hour mark, extending the lead and earning Payne the man-of-the-match award.

Ellingham & Ringwood are on their travels in their final match before Christmas when they take on the team one place and one point below them, fourth-placed Basingstoke, on Saturday.

Ellingham & Ringwood: A. Payne, P. Fraser, T. Sampson, D. Smith, C. Scott, T. Johnson, A. Lorton, G. Randall, S. Veneroso, T. Veneroso, H. Leigh-Watts, D. Patrice, A. Higgins, D. Gollings, C. Pablo Frost. Subs: E. Sibley, C. Hills, J. Bovett.