A SPIRITED Ellingham and Ringwood went down 22-15 to Fareham Heathens in their first fixture of the year.

The visitors had started the Snows Hampshire One contest well as they cruised into a seven-point lead with the game just five minutes old.

A period of sustained pressure led to their full back Dominic Pitt picking a superb line to score under the posts and scrum half Josh Butcher added the conversion.

Butcher extended the lead to 10 points with a well-struck penalty, but the Fareham scrum was beginning to dominate and Ellingham’s young forwards were struggling in the set piece.

Fareham exploited this well and scored two push over tries to make it 10-10 at the break.

Ellingham flew out of the blocks in the second half. After a great handling move, their wing three quarter Chris Frost made a superb break. He was tackled just short of the line, but full back Pitt was in support to score his second try. Fareham’s forwards came back strongly to score another try in the corner. It looked as if the game was heading for a draw, but a loss of concentration allowed Fareham to score under the posts and kick the conversion. Ellingham then threw everything at Fareham in the dying moments, but it was too little too late and they had to settle for a losing bonus point.