FORDINGBRIDGE RFC were made to fight hard for their 29-15 bonus point win in a disjointed home clash with Fareham Heathens in Snows Hampshire One.

Heathens opened the scoring with a penalty but it was not long before Archie Gavin responded for ’Bridge, his jinking run breaking through the defence.

The home side added a penalty before Mark Hammond got his name on the scoresheet and, with the conversion made, ’Bridge seemed to be in control of the game.

They went further in front when Dan Brown went over in the corner for a 22-3 half-time lead.

An unstoppable charge from Alex Tattersall pushed the match further from the reach of the visitors but they never gave up the chase and finished the second half with the upper hand after crossing the line twice.

Captain Steve Brown reflected that it had not been the prettiest of games but a good win, nonetheless, against a determined Fareham side.

Fordingbridge play their penultimate game of the season on Saturday as they make the trip to Romsey.

Elsewhere, Fordingbridge seconds lost at Wimborne 41 – 24.

n NEIGHBOURS Ellingham and Ringwood went down 46-9 away at Sandown and Shanklin.

Es put in a strong first-half performance and, with half-time approaching, they were trailing 9-6 with their scrum-half Josh Butcher having kicked two penalty goals. At this point, Sandown put in a speculative kick that bounced kindly for their wing to score under the posts.

They added the conversion to give them a 16-6 lead at the break.

However, the second half was very one-sided with Sandown accumulating a further 30 points and Ellingham’s reply being just one further penalty from Butcher. The only real positive for Ellingham was the man of the match performance from their colt Matt Raybould on his first team debut.

Ellingham thirds went down by two points away at Swanage and Wareham on Saturday.

They lost 31-29 in Dorset and Wilts 3 South as they remain second from bottom on zero points.