Ely Tigers welcomed Southwold for a rearranged fixture on Saturday afternoon to the Cambridge Commodities Park.
Both sides were missing players and it showed in a disjointed game, it was the home side that scored first, with Mark Assenti crossing the try line to give the Tigers an early lead, with Matt McCarthy adding the conversion, with the early pressure it was though the home side would kick on, but the visitor’s slowly got a foothold on the game, and had a chance to cut the lead, with the award of a penalty just inside the Tigers half, instead of kicking for touch and further yards to apply pressure, they opted to kick for the three points, the kick fell short and Ely cleared their lines, only for ‘Wold to come back at them, being award another penalty, this time there was no coming up short as the ball went through the uprights, the visitors come back was hindered as they went down to 14 men for a high tackle, and Ely took advantage as McCarthy went over for the second try after a run forward to win the foot race to score, he was unable to add the conversion, the third try was soon to come, Aaron Borland had threaten with his pace a couple of times before, only for last ditch tackles to prevent him, but this time there was no stopping him, picking the ball up mid way in the Tigers half, he sprinted passed a couple of tackles to score off the wing to touch down under the posts, McCarthy added the conversion.
Another penalty for Southwold, which was added to the scoreboard, from restart, Ely break over for the bonus point try to increase the lead, with the conversion once added, back came the visitors with a the award of a penalty try. It was then Tigers chance to add three points as they were awarded a penalty, which McCarthy added, replacement John Dibb added a further try, and again the conversion was added, to increase the score to 33-13. As Southwold cleared their lines, the ball fell nicely to Ben Fortheath who quickly glanced up and scored with a drop goal.
Southwold came back into the game as the game entered its closing stages, as they added two unanswered try’s & a conversion, to close the gap to 10 points, however the pace of Borland once more caused an issue to the visitors, with the Conversion added the score stood at 43-25, it was the visitors that had the final word with the last try of the afternoon, with the conversion missed the final whistle blew with a 43-30 win, which see’s the side sit in joint 3rd place in the league
Saturday sees the side travel to play Cantabs.
Press release from Ely Tigers Rugby Club
Photo credit: Steve Wells
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