Counties Two rugby: Unbeaten New Milton hold off Ellingham & Ringwood fightback
Counties Two Hampshire
New Milton RFC 36
Ellingham & Ringwood RFC 18
NEW Milton survived a late Ellingham & Ringwood onslaught to move to the top of the table after an impressive four-game winning start to the campaign.
New Milton built a decent lead in the first half, and the home support looked forward to more tries after the break. However, E&R, whose forwards dominated the line-out, had other ideas.
Helped by penalties gifted by New Milton, E&R began to claw their way back into the game, and New Milton were relieved to hear the final whistle.
Milton attacked right from the kick-off and soon made their way into the E&R 22 before the hosts spun the ball out to Christian Brown, who ran through to score the first try.
E&R responded well and soon won a penalty, which Chris Frost slotted, before New Milton’s Connor Hammerstone restored his side’s advantage with a penalty of his own.
An extended period of New Milton defending preceded Dan Mallard running well with the ball in hand, evading multiple E&R defenders to touch down.
Another spell of E&R pressure led to a loose ball making its way to Nick McQueen, who kicked and charged forward, collecting and passing to Brown, who accelerated to score his brace.
Dan Mallard gained possession from a Milton line-out on the E&R 10m and ran to the try-line before being tackled just short, passing out for Dalton Thomas to run through and score. Hammerstone converted this and the previous three tries to help his side to a 31-3 half-time lead.
E&R made a bright start to the second half, and a succession of penalty decisions led to Frost successfully kicking one and taking the other quickly for Andrew Lorton to score a converted try.
The next score went to the hosts, who pounced on a loose ball before a slick passing move allowed Joe Eldridge to touch down, with the final pass coming from Charlie Jewiss.
E&R threw caution to the wind and began mounting successive attacks. Eventually, they broke through, with Danny Patrice scoring the game’s final try.
Chris Conacher was awarded New Milton’s player of the match for outstanding teamwork.
New Milton: S. Bew, J. Lines, E. Hynd, J. Corbett, N. MacQueen, L. Thomas, J. Payne-Owen, D. Mallard, C. Wood, C. Brown, T. Gould, C. Conacher, C. Coombs, C. Jewiss, D. Thomas. Subs: O. Woodhouse, J. Eldridge, Z. Smith.
Ellingham & Ringwood: T. Sampson, L. Reynolds, A. Payne, A. Lorton, J. Fisher, R. Ticehurst, T. Johnson, L. Nicholls, S. Veneroso, H. Benson, W. Jenkins, D. Patrice, C. Seaby, J. Kelly, C. Frost. Subs: J. Morrish, A. Kingswell, W. Trim, A. Kingswell.
