ELLINGHAM & Ringwood recovered from a dreadful start to secure a comfortable 44-30 bonus-point victory against Overton in Hampshire One on Saturday.

Overton flew out of the blocks to take a 15-0 lead with three early tries before Ellingham steadied the ship and replied with three tries of their own to level.

Two were from full-back Dominic Pitt and the other from scrum-half Dave Jones.

But it was Overton who finished the first half the stronger and a penalty gave them an 18-15 lead at the break.

Ellingham were then able to dominate the second half, scoring a further five tries.

Pitt helped himself to a further two with the others coming from wing three-quarters Dean Young (2) and Lee Swyer.

Centre Josh Butcher also kicked two conversions and Overton could only add two tries and a conversion.

Meanwhile, Ellingham & Ringwood women maintained their 100 per cent winning record in National Challenge Division One South West with a comprehensive 83-0 victory against Yeovil.

It was arguably Ellingham’s best performance of the season and all of their hard work on the training pitch paid off.

Wing three-quarter Kiera Paul-Jones scored a first-half hat-trick and full-back Chloe Barrett and lock forward Amy Shipley scored two tries each.

The others were scored by Charlotte Benson, Maggie Hishon, Nina Hoadley, Emma Lipsett, Francesca McAlinney, Chantelle McClure, Rosie Swann and captain Hannah Walraven.

McClure also kicked two conversions with the other being kicked by Barrett.

Coach Henry Benson said: “I was really pleased with our performance.

“We’ve now just got two more league games this season and, if we beat Chipping Sodbury next week, we will have won the league.

"This will be a tremendous achievement having only been promoted into this league this season.”