NEW Milton withstood a late spell of pressure from Ellingham & Ringwood and held out for a 27-21 victory over their Hampshire One rivals.
Tries from Dalton Thomas, Sam O'Regan and Sam Bew – coupled with a conversion from Thomas – saw New Milton reach the break leading 17-3 with Ellingham’s only points coming from a Josh Butcher penalty.
A see-saw second half resulted in the teams trading tries at regular intervals with full-back Dominic Pitt going over twice for Ellingham and a third coming from flank forward Jack White with Butcher adding a further penalty.
Bew and Ed Hynd went over for New Milton and, although Ellingham threw everything at them in the final five minutes, they had to settle for a losing bonus point against the table-toppers.
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