Ellingham & Ringwood 1st XV travelled to Twickenham to be the warm up match for the international being played up the road at the Alianz Stadium on a warm autumnal day with the ground bathed in sunshine. Despite the numerous injuries sustained in the previous game we were able to field a strong team and able to welcome back Mike Treloar into the second row to bolster the scrum.

In the opening exchanges both sides were sizing each other up testing one anothers defence and putting in high kicks to challenge the home teams backs with sun glaring down on them. It was the home side that got the initial break through in the 9th minute when their full back and lately man of the match Thomas Foster saw a gap in the away teams defence and nipped through to score the first try of the game and then duly slotted over the conversion. Ellingham fought back and tried to respond with a score, but despite their efforts they players either lost their composure at the vital stage of the attack or the home teams defence stayed solid and this was to be the pattern throughout the 80 minutes.

In the 20th minute Twickenham's number eight Nicholas Smith who had a fine game bullocked his way through several tackles to score the home teams second try. Again Ellingham tried to fight back with young second row Jack Richardson being held up on the line following an excellent driving maul from his fellow forwards. The home team punished Ellingham again and in the 28th minute broke away from their own half with their centre Louis Boyd with teammates outside him dummied which the away defence bought and went through the gap that was left to score near the posts, Foster added the two points. Again, Ellingham tried to get on the score sheet, but this did not materialise and the half time score was Twickenham 19 - Ellingham & Ringwood - 0.

The visitors tried to come out with renewed endeavour, but the home team proved too strong and in the 45th minute their prop Fraser Gibson bullied his way over the line and again Foster was able to convert for the additional two points. Then in the 53rd minute Smith added to his earlier try in a similar style to his first smashing his way through the visitor's defence to give his teammate Foster an easy slot at goal to increase the scoreline. Despite their efforts and having a lot of possession and spending an increasing amount of time in the home teams half they could still not get on the score board, this was not helped by the referee chalking off two tries one being for an alleged forward pass, lady luck was not on our side.

Then in the 68th minute Twickenham's winger William Hellel showed the Ellingham defence a clean pair of heals and scored another try for the home team, again Foster was able to convert his kick. In the 77th minute Ellingham finally got rewarded for their hard work and efforts with a try from winger Lewis Reeves sprinting past several of Twickenham's defensive players to score under the posts. Reeves cramped up because of his efforts, so his fellow winger Zach Morrish slotted over the conversion scoring his first points for the 1st XV to give the visitors a well-deserved 7 points. Although the home team were to punish the visitors one more time in the 80th minute with the sun setting and the green parakeets flying overhead their fly half Jamie See, who also had a good game scored the last points of the game with a try, making the final score Twickenham 45 - Ellingham & Ringwood 7.

The 1st XV have a welcome break next week, before they welcome local rivals Bournemouth to their home ground on the 22nd November.

Hope that's ok, thanks for driving yesterday.
Cheers
Swede