Colts Match Report

Ellingham & Ringwood Colts 7 v Portsmouth Colts 32

Sunday 25th November 2007

After the rain and windswept match against Gosport & Fareham the previous week, Portsmouth got their league season back on track with a hard fought victory at Picketts Post.

From the kick off, Portsmouth were forced to defend against an Ellingham side that played well above their league position. This pressure eventually paid off when Ellingham crashed over from a 5 metre scrum to score the opening try of the game which was superbly converted from the touchline. From the restart Ellingham went close to increasing their lead with only some great defence by Portsmouth keeping them out. Then came Portsmouth’s opening score. Full back Niall Highgate fielded a high kick in his 22 and proceeded to bamboozle the Ellingham defence chipping and fielding his own kick to score a try under the posts converted by Mike Haggard. From the next Portsmouth attack, Mike Haggard kicked a drop goal to make the half time score 10 to 7 in favour of Portsmouth.

With the Portsmouth pack now gaining the upper hand skipper John Chambers crossed from a driving maul for an unconverted try. Ellingham did not drop their heads and attacked the Portsmouth line. However, one of these attacks was beautifully read by Mike Haggard, who intercepted a midfield pass to race three quarters the length of the field to score a try under the posts which he converted.

Two further unconverted tries were scored, the first from hooker Shane Mullen, again from a driving maul, and the second a well worked try finished off by No.8 Deiniol Jones.

Scorers:

Tries: John Chambers, Mike Haggard, Niall Highgate, Deiniol Jones, Shane Mullen

Conversions: Mike Haggard (2)

Drop Goal: Mike Haggard