Anstey Park and the assembled parental support enjoyed perfect conditions for this match with a confident Alton side sporting their new playing kit kindly sponsored by John Morrissey of Sony DADC.

With a squad of 23, Alton faced an Ellingham side who arrived with only 17 players – at least that was one more than our recent visit to Trojans.

The Alton coaches had set two objectives for this fixture. First was to rectify our recent slow starts by coming out strong and getting the first score. Second was to improve on our defensive play and try to prevent E&R crossing our line.

The game started quickly enough when winger Jack Messenger took a ball which was whipped out to the right flank, and began a mazy run across field. As the Alton coaches shouted at Jack to make one more pass, he kicked on and his change of pace took him beyond the desperate defence.

Soon after Joe Gwyther scored the second try following a trademark darting run from a scrum just outside the Ellingham 22. Objective one was achieved and Joe slotted the extras.

Ellingham responded with determined pressure after winning the ball against the head in a scrum on the left flank.  A series of defensive lapses followed and the away team took full advantage to score a try which was a just reward for the pressure they had exerted.

At half time, the score stood at 12-5, Alton were feeling reasonably confident and made wholesale changes to the team so that all players had a chance of game time prior to the selection for next week’s league match against Jersey. Many players stepped into new positions including debutant Joe Randall who had never played full-back. However, despite the changes all subs performed well and the changes did not appear to affect the teamwork.

Alton continued the scoring with a well deserved try from Ralph Andrews whose work rate at the breakdown throughout the match was an example for all. In fact his efforts also showed up another problem area for Alton with him often becoming isolated with his darting runs forward into Ellingham’s pack. Ellingham exposed the lack of support, competing well at the breakdown and creating turnover after turnover Unfortunately for them, they were unable to convert this possession into any really threatening forward momentum.

In an example of Alton’s lack of support play, Joe Buller burst out with the ball from an untidy maul on the half way line and promptly embarked on a determined and spirited run down the line. Ellingham’s scrambling defence halted Joe’s run and the lack of Alton support led to a penalty for not releasing.  The ensuing kick to touch ensured Alton made no gain in ground from Joe’s run and Ellingham had the throw in to the line out.

Forty minutes in and further substitutions saw Alton gain advantage with fresher legs as the smaller Ellingham squad began to tire. Excellent work at the breakdown from Doug Lowe and some effective runs from Josh Smith produced the momentum with which Alton scored further tries. Josh Smith stepped and forced his way over the line and Alex Adams, in his debut game for the club, crashed over from short range following a period of sustained forward pressure. In a game where Alton were perhaps not committed enough in the tackle, our new full back Joe Randall served notice of his potential with a crunching tackle on the right wing just as Ellingham threatened to breakthrough the backline.

Joe Gwyther successfully converted 2 of the 5 tries, taking his points tally for the season to 40. The final score does Ellingham no favours as they had competed well throughout the game and must now look forward to dominating in Hampshire League 3.  This was their 4th match of the season and they have performed excellently against League 1 opposition in 3 of those games.

This was Dave Forrest’s first game with the whistle and he did an excellent job of managing the game and allowing the boys to play.  A few of the Ellingham parents might do well to read the RFU Good Spectator’s Code, some of the unsporting comments took away from the boys’ enjoyment of the game.  As part of the Alton support it was great to see Charlie Hibbert on the sidelines, resisting the temptation to put in a few tackles.

The Ellingham squad were given a rousing reception as they left the field and we wish them all the very best for the remainder of the season and probable promotion from League 3.

Alton points:
Tries – Joe Gwyther, Jack Messenger, Ralph Andrews, Josh Smith, Alex Adams
Conversions – Joe Gwyther (2)

The Alton squad were:-
Alex Adams, James Airey, Ralph Andrews, Andy Austin, Richard Blizzard, Ollie Brench, Tom Bugler, Joe Buller, Stan Burrows, Ben Coleman, James Forrest, Joe Gwyther, Jake Hadley, Alex Heath, Cameron Lockie, Doug Lowe, Jack Messenger, Jay Norton, Ed Pasfield, Ewan Pickering, Joe Randall, Charlie Rands, Josh Smith.