Ely Tigers looked to build on last weeks win away at Southwold as they welcomed West Norfolk to the Cambridge Commodities Park, again there was changes to the starting 15, with Joel Scott Paul making a long awaited return following injury that ruled him out for the majority of the previous season.
Tigers started the game the brighter and were first to put points onto the scoreboard, with Tigers winning the scrum on the left they worked the ball across field, with Matt McCarthy picking out the ideal time to release the ball to Aaron Borland whose pace was to much for the Norfolk defence as he crossed the try line to score, with Scott Paul adding the conversion to give Tigers an early 7 point lead, moment later Scott Paul had a further chance to add to the score, with Tigers being awarded a penalty just outside the 22 meter line, they opted to kick for the points, which they did as the ball sailed through the posts.
West Norfolk started to come more into the game, applying pressure on the Ely defence, with the try line within sight, and with the overlap and space, the final ball was dropped and knocked on, giving Tigers the chance to clear their lines, but the ball wasn’t cleared out enough as back on the attack West came, eventually winning a penalty in front of the posts, like Ely they opted to kick for the points to reduce the deficit to 10-3, from the restart a mistake handed the ball back to West Norfolk on the half way line, West won the scrum and broke free, only some last ditch tackles prevented the scores being level, again West applied pressure on the Tigers back line, again the overlap was there but the Tigers backline held the ball up to prevent the try, from the restart, West Norfolk again won the ball, as they moved the ball from left to right across the field of play, eventually winning another kick-able penalty to reduce the score to 10-6.
Despite all the pressure it was Ely that scored the next try of the game, as Tigers won a line out on the left, and by moving the ball quickly through hands, finding Borland once more on the wing, whose quick pace and feet saw him ghost pass the tackles to score unchallenged under the posts, giving Scott Paul and easy conversion chance to extend the lead, from the restart Ely went on the attack once more, with kick forward from McCarthy not finding touch as West kept the ball in play, but their kick forward was poor and was picked up by Adam Tallack whose strong surge forward released Scott Paul to go over the try line and again to touch down under the post, with the conversion added.
The second half with West on the attack once more and they were first to trouble the scoreboard scoring under the posts, with the conversion added, with West looking to apply more pressure, Tigers were dealt a blow as replacement Luke Turner received a yellow card, to reduce the Tigers to 14, but it was Ely that added to the score line as Borland added his third try of the afternoon, once again his pace caused all sorts of issues for West Norfolk, as he dabbed the ball down under the posts, Tigers added a further try soon after, a break from Scott Paul saw Matt French to race clear to score in the corner, leaving a difficult kick for Scott Paul and the conversion, but Scott Paul kick was measured to a tee as the ball dropped the correct side of the posts for the extra points, back came West, a cross ball pass was picked up and unchallenged West crossed the try line unchallenged under the post, conversion added to make the score 38-20
With the game nearing full time Tigers went down once more to 14 men, with Scott Paul being shown a yellow card, along with Ely Coach, Paul Coulson, again with just 14 men it was Tigers that added to the scoreboard, with French breaking free to race forward and touch down under the posts, the conversion was added by McCarthy, but as the final whistle blew that was still chance for West Norfolk to go down to 14 men as Tigers run out 45-20
Press release from Ely Tigers Rugby Club
Photo Credit: Steve Wells
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