The Colts travelled across Dorset on Sunday to face a bolstered Weymouth side looking to reverse the defeat they suffered in Ringwood. Weymouth had strengthened their side with players from Swanage and also from Lytchett. Ellingham had a few known absences and lost two more players at short notice due to injury. Weymouth sportingly lent the visitors a prop to enable a competitive game to go ahead. With two second row and two centres out for concussion, county and thespian duties Ellingham was forced to experiment with some new combinations. This provided a good opportunity to see how players would step up and they certainly did. There are going to be some selection headaches for the coaches in the second half of this season.

Weymouth kicked off with a stiff wind at their backs. The hosts were clearly up for the challenge and threw everything they had at Ellingham, who defended resolutely for the first ten minutes. As soon as Ellingham got some ball they went wide and stretched the Weymouth defence up the left flank. The Dorset team fielded a big pack and the Ellingham players quickly identified that a high tempo game using all of the wide pitch was the best strategy. James Dyoss ran a great line off Aaron Moritzen at 10 and was well supported by David Edmunds and Jack Grey. Benjamin Evans supplied quick ball and Aaron and Zachary Leishman generated the width with strong passing. Teddy Johnson ran the outside arc, straightened and, once the cover defence was drawn, passed to Sam Harrison who powered into the line and over for Ellingham’s first try.

Weymouth attacked powerfully again having won the re-start. They used big runners coming from deep. There was a suspicion of crossing but the referee was unsighted and Ellingham were guilty of still enjoying their first try when Weymouth crashed over to level the scores. It was clear that the home side were not going to be a pushover. The Colts got back into their structure and increased the rhythm of their play. The work rate and physicality of James Edward Morris, Andrew Rollett and Robert Wakefield did not allow Weymouth to play their favoured game. On 26 minutes the backs exploited the space given to them by the forwards and simple passing gave Adam Kalim all he needed to show his pace. Zach converted, 12-5. Sadly, Sam turned his ankle in this move and took no further part in the game. A few minutes later Ellingham generated a similar situation and as Weymouth scrambled to cover Adam called for the switch from Ted and raced away to score under the posts. Zach added the extra points. Shortly before halftime Weymouth scored an opportunistic try when our ball got kicked back through the scrum. After half time Ellingham had the wind and most of the possession. They stretched the hosts wide left and right but two tries went begging as our passing became slack and unnecessary errors let Weymouth off. One of these turned a certain try into an interception opportunity for the home side and they raced into our half. David stopped the first phase with an excellent cover tackle. Unfortunately, the referee adjudged the Ellingham pack to have transgressed at the ruck and while our players stopped to ask questions the Weymouth players took a quick tap and strolled in for an easy score.

Discipline was restored while the conversion was attempted and once again the Colts began to play with structure and pace. The ball was worked left to right combining forwards and backs and Joshua Balais showed his pace to round the Weymouth defence to score. The next score came from Josh as well. Weymouth looked to move the ball wide but our rush defence pressed their centres into giving Josh and interception pass. Zach converted the try from under the posts. Ellingham’s last try came from a well worked set piece. With the visitors awarded a scrum in front of the posts, the backs loaded everyone one side. This fooled the home side into assuming the plan was to go wide. Our captain, Owen Dingle, picked at 8 and had too much pace for the Weymouth back row. Zach add the conversion. 38-17.

The game showed Ellingham can travel, have strength in depth, can adapt and can win games even when they are outnumbered due to injury. When the Colts play to their potential they are a top class team. The challenge going forward is to be more consistent and not allow teams or lack of concentration to dictate how they play.

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