Ventnor maintained momentum in Counties Three, with a dominant 41-12 victory away at Ellingham & Ringwood. They established early dominance when Hayden Lythgoe landed a robust tackle, with a solid scrum driven by George Collett, Jewy Jones and Lythgoe. Lineouts were controlled by Joe Coghlan, who found Tom Branagh, enabling Lythgoe to score, quickly followed by Coghlan touching down for a 10-0 lead after 15 minutes. Ellingham’s reply was short-lived, with Harvey Wheeler setting up Jacob Jordan to score, then converting. Jacob Jordan crossed for another score and Josh Ford was central to a move, resulting in another try for Coghlan.

Jordan scored his second try of the match, and with Wheeler’s conversion Ventnor led 29-7 at the break.

In the huddle, coach Todd Riches asked for more direct running with Harvey Wheeler, Jason Coltham and Branagh combining for Max Wheeler to put Olly Wood over, conceding a try for 36-14.

Sub Noah McKinney entered the fray, and another move ended in Jewy Jones crashing over the score-line. With Ventnor unable to convert, the 41-14 scoreline reflects the positive early season start of the Island side.

Also in Counties Three, Isle of Wight lost 26-33 at home to Overton, in an end-to-end battle, with debutants Joe Bussell and Aidan Wan both impressing, but IW missing skipper and talisman Luke Blackman. The Island side trailed 19-7 at the break, with Bussell scoring for the Island.

A spirited Island side, spurred on from a half-time talk and better organised defence, saw increased pressure, resulting in player of the match fly-half George Huish jinking over.

Deputy captain, David Blackman, started a fluid passing move, finished by the energetic Huish, who added a conversion, to level the score 19-19. IW’s scrum was dominating the game, with Ben Hart and Aidan Wan in control, with a further attack seeing Huish scoring his third, with conversion to take the lead. A defiant

Overton side responded with 2 converted tries and snatch victory from an Island side who settled for 2 bonus points, when more could have been achieved.