Ellingham & Ringwood 1st XV welcomed Guernsey St Jacques Vikings to the Raymond Brown Memorial Ground for an earlier kick off to accommodate our visitors travel arrangements, the weather was perfect for free flowing rugby and those watching were rewarded with a total of 13 tries in a game that ebbed and flowed.

The home team opened the scoring with centre Adam 'Higgo' Higgins crashing over the try line after some fine passing from Ellingham's backs to send him over in the 8th minute with Chris 'Pablo' Frost playing on the wing slotting over for the additional two points. Four minutes later fly half Tom Veneroso dummied and swerved his way through the Guernsey defence to score the second try of the game and Frost was able to add the two points. At this stage of the game Ellingham were flying with some great combination play and some sublime passing this time Frost coming off his wing drifted through the Guernsey defence evading tackles to score under the posts to make his kick for goal a simple task, this was in the 18th minute and the visitors perhaps a little jet lagged were unsure what had hit them.

The game went through a quieter passage of play until the 31st minute when Ellingham's discipline let them down again which was to become a reoccurring theme as the game proceeded, as Guernsey Vikings muscled their way over at the SPECSAVERS end of the ground to score their first try of the game. As the first half drew to a close, prop Corey Wallis powered over the line for the Vikings second try of the game in the 40th minute with their fly half Thomas Vellard converting to make the half time score Ellingham & Ringwood 21 - Guernsey 12.

Scrum half and captain Sammy Veneroso had some harsh, but fair words for his team during the half time break, but it might have fallen on deaf ears as the visitors came out the stronger of the two sides, perhaps boosted by the resurgence at the end of the first forty minutes. In the 44th minute the Vikings were awarded a penalty and their centre Matthew Lomas slotted over a fine kick to increase his team's points tally to 15. This appeared to spur Ellingham on, and front row replacement Sam Dargan got his first try for the club in the 47th minute when he powered his way over the try line to give Frost an easy kick at goal which he duly converted and to give Ellingham the try bonus point. History was repeated two minutes later when Dargan got his brace of tries following some good build up lay and stretching for the try line his long limbs enabled him to get Ellingham's fifth try of the game at SPECSAVERS end of the to the delight of the crowd and Frost was able to convert.

Undeterred the visitors fought back with centre Marcus Whitfield cutting through the home teams defence to score his teams third try of the game, which they were unable to convert. Then in the 65th minute flanker James 'Buffy' Bovett ran clear on the far side of the pitch to score a good try in the corner, Frost was unable to add the two points with his kick from out wide. It was to be a day of players scoring a brace of tries between them when in the 75th minute defence coach Higgo got his second try of the game to extend the home teams lead and Frost this time was successful with the boot. Then it was the turn of Buffy with Ellingham at this stage reduced to 13 players with Tom Veneroso and hooker Pat Fraser being shown yellow cards for ill-discipline to surge up the pitch to score a good try and Ellingham's final one of the game.

The Vikings showed their Nordic fighting prowess by placing the home team's defence under sustained pressure when in the 82 minute of the game number 8 Christopher Cross muscled his way over the try line to give Ellingham's travel weary warriors a well earned try bonus point and Vellard was able to add the two additional points with his conversion. The game was still not over and the Vikings were pressing for another score when in the 84th minute they managed to get their fifth try of the match to make the final score Ellingham & Ringwood 52 - Guernsey St Jacques Vikings - 32.

Man of the match for Ellingham went to Dan Jackson who moved into play at number eight who made some surging runs through the middle of the pitch causing the visitors to defence several problems throughout the game. Ellingham maintained their third place in the league ahead of next weeks big clash with the rearranged fixture against Gosport & Fareham who are currently in second position.

Swede