We hosted New Milton at Parsonage Barn Lane on Saturday in the Hampshire Premiership and secured our first victory over our New Forest rivals since 2007, in our last home league game of the season.

The game was played in front of a large crowd, following a pre-match lunch and the Raymond Brown Memorial Ground was bathed in early spring sunshine as the two sides took to the field, but there was a strong wind that was to have a big influence on the game.

With the wind behind them, New Milton were immediately into our half where they were awarded a penalty, which was converted by Connor Hammerstone and shortly afterwards he kicked another two penalties. To add to our problems, our lock forward Andrew Lorton was shown a yellow card leaving us a man short for 10 minutes. The New Milton forwards were working well, having shown their power in the set scrums and from the kick off, Jack Corbett caught the ball, headed for and got very close to our try line. We were able to prevent the try, but this was deemed illegal and Hammerstone kicked the resulting penalty. From the kick off we moved the ball through our backs, but the New Milton centre Danny Oliver intercepted a pass to run in a try and Hammerstone kicked the conversion. We responded immediately and after some surging runs from flank forward Callum Butler and prop Will Trim, our scrum half and captain Henry Benson span the ball wide and our wing three quarter Will Jenkins dived over for a good try. From the restart we continued to apply pressure, which resulted in Jenkins scoring his second try. But New Milton fought back and Hammerstone kicked a further penalty shortly before half time to give the visitors a 22-10 lead and all the talk at the break was whether the 12-point lead would be enough, having regard to the strong wind.

We started the second half well, playing the open running rugby that has epitomised our season. But it took 10 minutes to get the scoreboard moving, as the visitors defence was solid and they were managing the game well. Stirling work from our pack led to lock forward Andrew Lorton crashing over for a try near the posts, to make up for his earlier indiscretion and full back Chris Frost kicked the conversion. Ill-discipline from the visitors led to another penalty being awarded, which Chris Frost kicked to reduce the deficit to two points, but then came the try of the game. From inside our own half, there was some great link up play from our forwards to the back line. This led to some neat inter changes between Will Jenkins and inside centre Archie Cockayne, who crashed over for a great try in front of a boisterous home crowd. Chris Frost could not kick the conversion, but we extended our lead further when prop Will Trim crashed over for Ellingham's fifth try of the game and Chris Frost utilised the wind for a successful kick and the additional two points. With the clock running down, the New Milton flank forward Nick McQueen, a former Ellingham player, raced through to score a try at the death, making the final score 32-27, which reversed the five-point victory that New Milton had secured at home in December.