Ellingham and Ringwood 5 – Lymington Mariners 27
Saturday 27th November 2010
Veteran Mariners triumph over youth
Lymington travelled to Ellingham and Ringwood RFC last Saturday to play their third team in a friendly fixture. The Mariner squad consisted mainly of veterans with only three of the team under thirty. At the opposite end of the spectrum the Ellingham and Ringwood team was composed almost entirely of young lads, including a blind side flanker who looked like he’d accidentally turned up a day early for the Under 15s fixture.
Among the line-up it was great to see two ofMariners’ founding fathers, Jason Ludlow and Rob Douthwaite, take to the field. Rob, who having turned up late due to delays with the Help The Aged community bus, found the No.6 shirt in the empty changing rooms, got over excited at the prospect of playing on the flank and ran on to the pitch as the referee was about to commence play. Unfortunately he quickly discovered there were already 15 Mariners on the field and that he was in fact going to be playing second row and not until the second half.
Both teams keen to be in the clubhouse in time to witness England get beaten by South Africa agreed that two halves of thirty minutes was sufficient to get their weekend’s fix of rugby.
Mariners started the game the brightest and quickly set up camp in the Ellingham half. Forwards and backs supported each other superbly to repeatedly stampede through the home team’s defence only to come up frustratingly short of the line.
The first try of the match was eventually scored by Lymington’s new captain, hooker Owen Cavell who collected a loose ball from a line out deep in opposition territory and charged unstoppably in to the corner for his first try of the season.
Minutes later Ellingham, still under pressure, won a scrum on their own 22 yard line only for their fly-half to get nailed by a harrying Ben Bradley-Watson playing at flanker. Ben managed to secure the ball and three quick rucks later and only inches from the line the ball was spun wide to full back Craig Esterhuizen who strolled over the line and touched down with such cool the team manager had to check his team sheet to make sure it wasn’t Arthur ‘Fonzie’ Fonzarelli in the No.15 shirt.
Towards the end of the first half Ellingham and Ringwood started to apply some pressure of the own on the Mariner line but some strong counter attacking running from Pete Rolfe and Charlie Cutler kept them at bay. Then with only a minute left on the clock and Ellingham threatening to score, Joe Rodway tucked the ball under his arm and went on one of his trademark side-stepping runs to the other end of the pitch and ensure the interval came with Lymington still 0-10 up.
The second half started much like the first with Mariners in the ascendancy as their stronger pack used its supremacy in the tight to advance steadily into Ellingham’s half of the pitch. Some quickly recycled possession saw the ball spun wide and in to the hands of Andy O’Callaghan. The mercurial veteran flanker decided to give the youngsters a lesson in how to sell a dummy and crossed the whitewash untouched to increase Lymington’s lead by another 5 points.
Jason Bolwell back in the side at prop having asked to only play a half was having so much fun he didn’t want to leave the pitch but eventually was dragged off to go shopping to buy a new outfit for the evening’s Christmas party. Taking his place was debutant Rob Charley who entered the fray like he’d been there all season and ensured the front row continued to dominate their opposites.
From a scrum just inside the opposition’s 10 metre line the Lymington forwards walked the ball at least 15 yards up field. Justin Bloomfield at scrum half deciding it was time to give the backs a go picked the ball up and threw an intriguing reverse pass that looped so high it came down covered in frost into the hands of inside centre John McGuffin who took advantage of the confused defence and jinked his way to within a metre of the try line. Number 8 Lee Thomas chasing in support picked up the ball from his tackled comrade generously looking to pop it to a charging team mate only to be shouted at by Ben Bradley-Watson that he should just score the try, which he therefore did.
Walking casually back for the restart Mariners’ complacency was punished as the indefatigable youthful enthusiasm of the Ellingham and Ringwood backs took a quick kick-off away from the forwards, successfully chased down the loose ball and scored in the corner.
However, determined to have the last word, Lymington again pressed deep in to the final quarter of the pitch recycling possession with ease. Rob Douthwaite joining in with the backs took possession out wide and charged for the line. Despite his best efforts three whippersnappers managed to finally bring him down and although over the line Rob couldn’t find a way to ground the ball. With the resulting 5 metre scrum the Lymington pack knew the push over try was just a formality. 4 and a half metres later No.8 Lee looked down to see the ginger hands picking up the ball between his legs weren’t his own but were actually those of scrum-half Justin who had chosen to give flying Scotsman John McGuffin one last chance to get his name on the score sheet. John, this weeks ‘Lymington Rivaaz man of the match’ didn’t fail to deliver and rounding two defenders touched down under the posts. Joe Rodway kicked the conversion and the game ended moments later with the final score 5-27.
Lymington Mariner’s next match is this Saturday 4th December, away against New Milton 2nd XV in a league match, 2.00pm kick off. Everyone is invited to come and cheer the boys on in this hotly awaited, history making, first ever local derby between the two clubs.
Any players, experienced or new to the game, young and fit or otherwise are all welcome. For more details visit the website –
http://lymingtonmarinersrfc.wordpress.com/ or contact Lee Thomas on 07917 556 863 or lee.thomas@skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk
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