Hampshire Counties Five South rugby: Undefeated New Milton II secure league title

Hampshire Counties Five South
New Milton RFC II 29
Ventnor RFC II 19

AN undefeated New Milton seconds side clinched the league title with two games to go after a hard-fought victory against second-placed Ventnor.

Bolstered by Colts Noah Miller, Freddie Fitzsimmons, Josh Randall and try-scorer Ed Lewis, the team looked ready for a higher league.

However, it started badly for the hosts when Ventnor crashed over after several phases.

Milton were not fazed, and for the rest of the 40 Ventnor rarely got out of their own half.

While Ventnor had the weight advantage, Milton’s scrum took a number of balls against the head.

The front row of Dale Smith, Ed Baker and Aaron Lopez were on top, and they were bolstered by locks Paul Eldridge and Dan Colein, whose line-out work was superb.

Matt Colein, line-out specialist George Warne, who scored a wonder try, and break-away forward John Talbot, who also crashed over, made up a game-winning back-row.

But it was Milton’s backs who entertained the large crowd. Matt Wale, Harry Willis-Finn, Chris Conacher, Tom Gould, Ben Gould, Tyler Mead and George Knight were peerless.

With a large squad, Milton had the luxury of bringing on some impact players.

Full-back Charlie Osborn scored two excellent tries, Freddie Fitzsimmons was outstanding at scrum-half, and Fin Wood, Rory Thomas, Dave Ragg, Lee Peart, Josh Randall and Russ Eldridge all put in fine displays.

Ventnor, second in the league, never gave up and scored two tries late on, but Milton were out of sight by then.