Players from both Ellingham & Ringwood and the Nick Carlyon Memorial XV celebrate together after the game
Ellingham & Ringwood All Stars XV played a Nick Carlyon Memorial XV on Saturday in memory of Nick, who was a former Verwood Rugby Club player, who sadly died in 2001.
There was a minute’s silence before kick off and the game was very competitive, but played in a great spirit in beautiful weather at Ellingham’s Raymond Brown Memorial Ground. The participants’ ages ranged from players in their mid 20s to veteran 65 year old prop Bob Teale, who travelled from his home in France to play in the game and join fellow veterans Steve Benson and Paul Grubb in a 182 year old front row.
A big crowd was treated to some entertaining rugby. The memorial side took an early 7-0 lead with a converted try, but the Ringwood side came back strongly with tries from Tom Sampson and Duncan Soden to lead 10-7 at the break.
In the second half the Ellingham & Ringwood side were able to get on top and added two further tries from Andy Sherrin and David Budd and a conversion. But the memorial side also crossed for a further try to make the final score 22-12.
