A wet, windy and chilly Sunday morning and a boggy, cut up training pitch provided the setting for our Under 14's Friendly match this Sunday. The visitors were Alton, who are ranked 7th in the Hampshire Cup seedings this year, so this was going to be a tough test for the lads, especially as a few forward players were out with injury, (Cameron "Boerbel" Odendaal, Craig "Pokerface" Newton and Stephen "The Hitman" Whitehouse), which may have affected the scrum and Adam "The Pharoah" Kalim missing on the wing.
The match started in intermittent rain but the E's boys hardly noticed, as concentration levels for once, were at full throttle; The ball was kicked off by the Ellingham, got caught by Alton and passed twice before Oli "Shorty" Johnson managed a cheeky interception on the half way line, sprinted clear and ran half the length of the pitch to score a try under the sticks in only the first minute of the game. Oli's Dad Steve had a tear in his eye which may have been pride in his son's performance or might have been because his Movember moustache attempt was tickling his nose, we will never know for sure!
Adam "The Suntan" Barber duly plonked the conversion over, 7:0 to the Ellingham.
Alton kicked off, the ball was caught at Fullback by Aaron "The Viking" Moritzen, who ducked, dived and jinked his way round various Alton defenders to run in a second try on the far left wing in only the second minute of the game. Unfortunately the conversion attempt was not successful but then nobody worried at that point as we were 12:0 up.
Alton were shocked but this spurred them into action and they surged forward. The game see sawed backwards and forwards and numerous handling errors were forced because of the wet conditions and intensity of the tackling from both sides.
A couple of small mistakes by the E's and some good play from Alton paid off in the 8th minute to allow them to score under the posts. The easy conversion followed, score now 12:7 and game on.
Lots of battling, mistake laden play followed with both sides really going for it on the boggy, slippery pitch. James "Pinball" Jenkins and Kyle "The Bouncer" McGhee bounced around in the middle, Owen "The Exocet" Dingle, playing at Number 8, crashed in the tackles. Louis "The Stuntman" Harling smashed forward at every opportunity with Ellingham's determination and flair finally paying off in the 14th minute with Oli Johnson finishing off some good passing moves and slamming the ball down on the far right wing, only a metre in from the touchline.
Adam Barber stepped up, plonked the ball down close to the byline about 20 metres out, lined up the kick; The rain beat down, the wind blew a bit more and everyone probably thought there was no chance of the conversion!!..... How wrong we all were as the kick sailed high up, straight between the posts to bang up another two points for the E's. Adam's Dad Neil had a tear in his eye at the wonderous kick he had just witnessed or it may just have been joy at the fact he had just found a pound on the floor in the car park before the match, we will never know for sure!
Lots of battling midfield play followed, with Ellingham's scrum holding up well with a completely new front row; Ted "The Joker" Johnson, Ed "General" Patton and new boy Gabriel "The Angel" Almeida all showing grit and determination along with Andrew "The Caveman" Camilleri playing for the first time in the second row. Carl "Jinky" Jenkins made a few blasting runs out on the left wing but conditions under foot were not ideal for sprinting.
After a few more minutes Oli Johnson intercepted another Alton pass and scored his hat trick try in the 20th minute, under the sticks; He quickly followed up with the conversion to leave the half time score at 26:7.
The second half started with Jack "Russell" Horton moving to scrum half, Roger "The Rottweiler" Frederick replacing Gabriel Almeida at hooker. The weather conditions in the second half got worse and so did the mistakes, with numerous handling errors again. Both teams battled away bravely and in only the second minute Alton broke free to score their second try on the left wing, leaving a hard conversion attempt that failed.
Ellingham rallied and within two minutes had scored again through Aaron Moritzen right under the posts, leaving an easy conversion from Adam Barber, (3 out of 3 for the match).
The game then became a bit more attritional, with several Alton players going to ground under some pretty tough and robust tackling from Ellingham & Ringwood. Aaron Moritzen was rested after 10 minutes or so and was replaced by Aiden Hughes.
The final move of the game saw the E's defending tight on their line with Alton pushing for another try; A mistake by the E's allowed Alton to intercept the ball and go over for their third try of the match, but it was all in vain as Ellingham and Ringwood ran out as winners with the score at 33:17, a great result all round, considering the weather conditions and the fact that so many of our players were unavailable.
Our Under 14's remain unbeaten in 5 matches, and have now beaten Alton, (ranked 7th) and New Milton, (ranked 6th in the Hampshire Cup standings).
Next week may be a possible away match to Andover, (ranked 5th), so that will be a very tough test for all the boys.