Our colts knew they were short-handed this weekend. Injuries, stage productions and county representation all preventing a full turnout. The starting line-up consisted of 14 players and more backs than forwards. James Jenkins came home from college, probably hoping for a dazzling display in the backs, but he stepped up superbly to play flanker in a bruising game. Portsmouth lent us a back row forward. Owen Dingle, captain for the day, lead by example and moved up to second row with Robert Wakefield switching from openside to No. 8. The match was full on from the first whistle. For the first five minutes both teams hammered into each other with neither side giving an inch. Our pack then started to attack Portsmouth around the fringes of the breakdown. David Edmunds was a dynamo and forced their big pack to work at a higher intensity than they were comfortable with. A powerful surge from Stephen Whitehouse dragged in five defenders. Aaron Moritzen made the call for back’s ball and Zachary Leishman, playing at inside centre this week, carved up Portsmouth’s midfield for the opening try after 8 minutes. Unfortunately, Ellingham let the re-start bounce and put themselves under unnecessary pressure. A soft penalty gave the visitors and easy 3 points from a kick in front of the posts.

The pick and go game was possibly overused and the ball wasn’t quite as clean as our backs wanted which led to backs’ moves being shut down and a few turnovers. Portsmouth kicked long to relieve the pressure but Joshua Balais swept in off the left wing, caught the ball at full tilt and ran hard at the right hand flank. Our forwards were able to quickly recycle the ball and Zach forced his way over in the corner for an excellent try.

Ellingham suffered a setback at the end of the first quarter when Paddy Johnson was forced to leave the field after a boot caught him in the face. He didn’t return for the remainder of the match and the colts were now a man down. Our back line reorganised itself incredibly well with Sam Harrison covering both fullback and outside centre. Jack Grey did a sterling job helping Sam cover outside centre and the wing. Despite the numerical disadvantage these two players took the game to the opposition attacking up the right wing. Portsmouth eventually managed to beat our drift defence and scored a try after 25 minutes. The opposition nearly scored again but Teddy Johnson and Aaron combined to hold up the ball carrier. Ellingham weren’t finished and soon were deep in Portsmouth’s half with Rob and Andrew Rollett causing the defence all sorts of problems. Owen capitalised on the pressure by crashing over near the posts enabling Zach to convert for the extra points. The referee blew for half-time with Ellingham ahead by 17-8.

Sadly, the home team lost their loosehead prop, James Edward Morris who was suffering from back spasms. Amazingly James had been dominating the scrum despite his discomfort. Ellingham now faced 40 minutes of 13 versus 15 (with a borrowed player). This made for an excellent lesson in game management. The referee informed the players that they had to match numbers in the scrum. This left the home side with 5 versus 7 in the backs and after 49 minutes Portsmouth’s No.8 took advantage of an empty to blindside to score a try. Our colts continued to play an all-out attacking game which, against all the odds, came extremely close to yielding a try after 60 minutes. The try was disallowed, Owen received a nasty cut to the head and after a verbal exchange was sent to the bin.

Ellingham now faced an impossible task of 12 versus 15 but defied the logic of the mismatch in numbers by continuing to try and run at Portsmouth. This, inevitably led to turnovers and eventually to penalties as our players held on for a fraction too long. Portsmouth kicked to the corner and scored from a well-executed catch and drive. The conversion never took place as the visitor’s discipline let them down and a brawl ensued. The referee issued two red cards to Portsmouth and stopped the match in case tempers frayed further.

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