God damn it I can't even begin to explain why this result hurts so much except to say as we've been making so many positive strides forwards, one step back isn't the worst thing that could have happened to us (but why oh why against this team).
Having lost the reverse fixture at the beginning of the season on a concrete pitch with a scratch team 57 - 5, there shouldn't have needed to be any inspirational team talk before kick off but I guess our string of wins against Bridport, Sailsbury and Swans left us over confident and with yet again a new pairing in the centres and other key personal missing the basics let us down.
Once again we dominated the set piece, but our rucking was truly awful, and we may as well have done no training at all this year such was the absence of our locking on. There was the communication, with numerous calls being made and ignored, simple game plans not being followed, and the number of stupid penalties that we gave away.
However all that being said you can't ignore the fact that Ellingham and Ringwood have only lost two away games all year and are third in the league for a reason, yet they couldn't cross our white wash and won the game through their excellent kicker who punished any mistake we made, and still they only just won. Excellent first half displays by all the backs meant we looked dangerous on the break, with one searing break by Dan Hull almost resulting in a try. Dudley and Hugh chased kicks all afternoon keeping the pressure on the opposition wings, Clarkie made some great last ditch tackles and TJ was the pick of the numerous colts on display, finding gaps and off loading the ball well. We also had a first half try disallowed after sustained forward pressure was followed by a quick penalty and a try in the corner, which the referee somehow gave as being held up despite no opposition being near the ball. Having played with the wind and the slope in the first half, all Ellingham had to show for it was three penalties and a 9-nil lead, and at half time the game was still ours.
When it's not your day it's not your day, and despite a well-worked move seeing Dan Hull go over in the corner, TC managed to hit the post from the conversion and almost immediately we gave away another stupid penalty leaving the score 12 - 5 rather then 9-7 and then the ref also rather harshly sent Dan Underhill to the bin for trying to stop a fight with his fists and with a man down we struggled to sustain the pressure we had been exerting, although there was a missed TC penalty to show we were still in with a shout. A flurry of changes followed to ensure everyone got some quality game time, but the result was we lost what rhythm we had for a short while. Then just to make things interesting after more good work with backs and forwards combining we scored again in the corner, but once more the conversion was just beyond TC leaving the score at 10 - 12 with 5 minutes left. Ellingham now defended well but everything was with Dorch and as the ref called last play TC decided for a reason only he knows to try a chip over the top that Ellingham naturally kicked into touch.
So to surmise, we dominated the scrums and lineouts, we didn't concede any tries, scored two of our own and had a third wrongly disallowed, missed two conversions and a penalty all whilst not playing with any real conviction, fluidity and giving away stupid penalties: How far we have progressed in a season. Next week against Fordingbridge will be just as tough, best we get that heart and spirit back that was missing this week.
Man of the match was Bill Gates who terrorised their 9 all game. Dick of the day between Dan Unders for his yellow card, Sam Keele for the 15 or so chats the referee had to have with him, me for not scoring in the corner or TC for kicking the ball away with the last play of the game...I'll let you pick
1. Big Mac 2. Simon Peg 3. Boris 4. Underwear 5. Orange Peel 6. Woods 7. Husky Snr 8. El Capitanio 9. Microsoft 10. Top Cat 11. Fringe 12. Husky Jnr 13. Tom Jones 14. Half Pryce 15. One armed bandit 16. I 17. Birch Wood 18. Steel Keel 19. Goodie 20. Sheep shears 21. Ronnie O'Sullivan 22. Green Grass 23. Swan Lake 24. Isaac Newton
