Hampshire Counties One rugby: Electric Ellingham turn on the style in Bournemouth bashing

Hampshire Counties One

Ellingham & Ringwood RFC 77

Bournemouth RFC II 13

DESPITE giving away three penalties in the opening two minutes, Ellingham & Ringwood recovered their composure to beat Bournemouth seconds at the Raymond Brown Memorial Ground.

Ellingham cruised to a comfortable victory to move to sixth in front of a large home crowd, buoyed by the club’s annual lunch for honorary life members and vice presidents before kick-off.

Ellingham head coach Alan Steel’s speech beforehand about keeping the penalty count down fell on deaf ears, and Bournemouth fly-half George Yarwood slotted to give the visitors an early lead.

Ellingham sprung into action, and after some free-flowing rugby, outside centre Ben Carey dived over for the first try of the game, which right winger Chris Frost converted.

Four minutes later, after similar attractive rugby, Ellingham had another try, this time on the opposite flank, with left winger Jack Kelly touching down, with Frost again adding the extras.

Chris Seaby, playing at inside centre, then joined in the fun and crashed over for Ellingham’s third try of the game, but on this occasion, Frost’s conversion attempt was wide of the post.

Yarwood kicked another penalty to reduce the deficit, but Ellingham captain and scrum-half Sammy Veneroso quashed any hopes of a comeback when darting over for his side’s fourth, securing a bonus point, with Frost making no mistake with the boot.

Bournemouth showed tremendous endeavour, stringing together a succession of rucks close to the try line before scoring a converted try.

Ellingham’s forwards then got in on the action, with number eight Stuart Pearce muscling through a couple of tackles to score before Veneroso scored another to give the hosts a 44-13 lead at the break.

In the second half, Ellingham treated the supporters to a continuation of the first-half try spectacle.

Second-row forward James Fisher started the proverbial ball rolling after securing possession on the five-metre line crashing over. Frost again added the conversion with a fantastic kick from close to the touchline.

In the 48th minute, Ellingham vice-captain Andrew Lorton, who was partnering Fisher in the second row, dived over for another try, which Frost, who was having a fine game with the boot, converted.

At this point, Ellingham head coach Steel made changes, and the alterations provided immediate success.

First of all, Dan Stewart ran from deep to glide through for a try, followed shortly afterwards by Tyler Grant bulldozing over in the 54th minute. Frost was able to kick one of the two conversions.

Steel then brought on Ali Bennett – the player returns from injury – to replace Harry Wescott at fly-half, and Bennett was soon able to score Ellingham’s eleventh try.

Two minutes later, the game’s final score arrived courtesy of Carey, who grabbed his second.

The win lifts Ellingham into sixth place in the league, just two points behind Portsmouth, whom they face in their final home fixture next Saturday.