Ellingham and Ringwood 21 - Havant II 34

We welcomed high-flying Havant II to Parsonage Barn Lane on Saturday for our Hampshire Counties Division 1 fixture, in what was to prove to be hard fought game, with some exciting rugby played by both teams.

Havant made the first break through after we were penalised for being off-side, when their scrum half Jack Phillips kicked the penalty to give them an early lead. Havant's hooker Mark Dowds then ran through several tackles following some good build up play by his side, to crash over for a try and Phillips was able to kick the conversion and extend their lead.

We fought back and our fly half Sammy Veneroso, who was our captain for the day, dived over for a try and Chris Frost kicked the conversion. This was a result of sustained pressure by our forwards who dominated the set pieces throughout the game. Havant then applied the pressure and with good interchanges in their back line, Phillips, who was having an excellent game, dived over for their second try of the game, but he was unable to kick the conversion. Once more, our forwards made great in-roads and this eventually led to our second row James Fisher crossing for a try and Chris Frost added the conversion. Just before half time, we were awarded a penalty. Frost stepped up to try and kick the three points and give us a psychologically boost by taking the lead into the break, but sadly his kick just skimmed the post, leaving us14-15 down at the break.

Discipline, or the lack of it, from us was part of the story in the second half. Havant got off to a good start scoring a try as a result of some poor tackling and this was converted to extend their lead. Some back chat to the referee did not help our cause and again Havant took advantage of this by scoring a try in the corner, but Phillips could not convert. But it was not all one way traffic as we continued to strive hard, with our forwards performing well attempting to get a try to force their way back into the game. Both prop Josh Berry and hooker Pat Fraser were denied tries after crossing the line, as the referee considered the ball to be held up.

Havant managed to score their fifth and final try of the game, which Phillips was able to convert, but we weren't finished and following a good run by prop Josh Berry, he off-loaded to Lex Dakuwaqa who had come on as a second half replacement and he made a good run to score a well deserved try, which Chris Frost was able to convert to make the final score 21-34.

We can take great pride in our performance. We strove hard to get the win and are improving with every game we're playing since we were promoted.