Rugby: Harding’s men in solid home start

WEYMOUTH & Portland were victorious in their first home game of the season, but “made it harder than it needed to be” according to manager Paul Harding.

The home side made a number of changes, but was missing football convert Carl Neal, who Harding believes can make a big impact at the club in their push for promotion.

World Cup fever was abuzz around the clubhouse, with both sides hoping the competition’s arrival would encourage a fighting performance.

Despite a lack of fluidity to the start, Bryn Llewellyn opened the scoring early on for Weymouth from a penalty kick.

That followed with a try from Joe Gibson not long after, with Llewellyn converting to put the home side 10 points ahead.

Ellingham would not go down without a fight, and their reply came just before the half-hour, Chris Frost forcing the ball over the try line to half the deficit. The conversion however, was missed by Cullen Connor.

In the second period, the visitors edged their way closer from a penalty, putting just two points between them with half an hour to play.

But Weymouth & Portland stayed organised, and tries eventually came in from George Carter and Khylo Farley to seal the win.

Paul Harding praised ‘outstanding’ performances from Carter and substitute David Oaksford, but conceded that overall the slow start stopped his side from taking a bigger lead.

“I think the game was a bit stilted for us,” he said. “It didn’t flow as well as maybe it could have.

“Early on we weren’t direct enough. It was definitely a lot better once we were a bit more direct, a bit more forward-thinking.”

He added: “I don’t think it ever looked like we were going to lose, but we made it harder than I felt it needed to be. We could have been more clinical.”

Ellingham & Ringwood coach Alan Steel said: “We tried to take them on up front which didn’t work out. And when we did go wide we looked dangerous. Unfortunately, we butchered three tries, which could have got us back in the game.”

Ellingham’s last trip to Monmouth Avenue was in March, where they lost 48-0. Steel believes the performance this time however showed a ‘huge’ improvement