Sherborne Colts 0 - Ellingham & Ringwood 14

An impressive start to the season

We took part in a 3 way tournament playing two 30 minute matches against Sherborne (W 14-0) and Wimborne (L 0-21) yesterday. The Ellingham team was as follows;

1. James Morris
2. David Edmunds
3. Stephen Whitehouse
4. Zach Lillis TRY
5. Nathan Searle
6. Andrew Rollett
7. Rob Wakefield
8. Owen Dingle
9. James Jenkins
10. Zach Leishman TRY + 2 conversions
11. Adam Heathcote
12. Louis Harling
13. Paddy Johnson
14. Adam Kalim
15. Sam Harrison
16. Will Hannah

The first game was against Sherborne, who had already played and narrowly lost to Wimborne. Sherborne started fast and attacked the Ellingham 22 through their strong back line but our defence was more than to the task and drove Sherborne backwards on the gain line several times. We eventually won a penalty and were able to advance into the Sherborne half. Our backs showed promise with some flamboyant running but Sherborne were able to scramble in defence and thwart each Ellingham attack. We conceded a few turnovers through handling errors but the Ellingham scrum was in charge and won several against the head. The pressure eventually cracked the Sherborne line and Zach Leishman crashed over in the 14th minute to score near the posts. Zach converted his own try. Ellingham soon returned to the Sherborne’s half and fluid combinations of the pack working with the backs wore down Sherborne’s resistance and Zach Lillis (pictured) was rewarded with a score under the posts after 20 minutes. Zach Leishman converted for the extra two points. Sherborne dominated possession for the remainder of the game driving Ellingham back with an impressive line out and mauling game. The Ellingham defence, however, was relentless and forced Sherborne into submission.

We then played Wimborne who demonstrated an ability to move the ball quickly through the hands into the wide channels. After 5 minutes they attacked Ellingham’s left flank and seemed certain to score in the corner. A last-ditch attempt to tackle the ball carrier was deemed to be high and a penalty try was awarded. Wimborne used strong midfield runners to try and soften up Ellingham and although we resisted they were able to narrow our defence. They exploited the resulting overlap extremely well and although Ellingham scrambled well to halt the move we lost our defensive shape and Wimborne were able to move the ball from right to left and score again in the 8th minute. Ellingham showed a tremendous desire and ability to learn and spent the next 10 minutes attacking Wimborne through both the forwards and some deft handling by the backs. Unfortunately we were not able to convert pressure into points. Wimborne rang the changes and rolled on a fresh pack to nullify the Ellingham threat. A penalty awarded to Wimborne in the middle of the pitch led to a line-out deep in our 22. When Wimborne tried to drive the maul, our forwards denied them but the ball popped out Wimborne’s side and slick handling enabled Wimborne’s centre to dive over near the posts for a third try. Ellingham spent the last 7 minutes of the match camped in the Wimborne’s 22 but again we were not quite able to execute the final pass to get the points the team deserved.

All in all it was an impressive start to the season agains two big squads and it shows we have a strong platform to work from.