Ely Tigers travelled to Suffolk to play Ipswich YM, where they endured a nervy last 15 minutes to hold on to take the 27-17 win, travelling with a much changed squad of 18 once again.
The game started with neither side able to get a grip on the game, but Ely managed to get the first points on the board, with Tigers pushing YM back deep into their own half, winning a penalty, Tigers decided to take the scrum option, the Tigers pack pushing the home side further into trouble, the ball broke with Adam Tallack, whose pass out to James Buckland found Jim Storey who went over to score, with no recognized kicker in the squad, Tallack stepped up for the extra points, but the ball fell the wrong side of the points, the home sides plight was made more difficult as they went down to 14 men after a high tackle, while they were a man down, Tigers added their second try, with Alfie Ramswell going over in the corner, with a cross field wind the ball held up for the extra points as the conversion fell short.
The third try soon came, a kick out of defence by YM was picked up in the Ely half by Olly Watts, who picked his way pass the YM players to sprint forward, picking out he gaps in the home defence to cross the try line to the left of the posts, the conversion was add to give Tigers a 17-0 lead, soon after the bonus point try arrived, and again is was the Tigers pace that saw Luke Turner score under the posts, the conversion was missed, it was now that the home side finally started to apply pressure on the Tigers back line, and on the stroke of half time YM troubled the scoreboard, with Ely unable to clear the ball out, YM found the gaps to score their try, aswell as the converted points.
The second half started with the home side looking brighter, however the Tigers backline was standing firm, however the home sides second try soon came, again Ely were unable to clear their lines allowing the home side the chance to attack once more, where they finally found the gap to cross the try line under the posts, with the conversion added the lead was narrowed 8 points, Tigers then went down to 14 men as Storey was shown a Yellow card, from the resulting penalty the side opted for the three points, instead of going for the corner and applying the pressure further on Ely, the home side added the points to narrow the gap to five points, Ely now had to manage the final minutes of the game to ensure the win, they went better than that, by adding a further try, with Nathan Brooks going over the try line, with the conversion missed the referee signalled the end of the game for a 27-17 win, this Saturday (22nd) the side face Holt for their first home game in three weeks.
Press release from Ely Tigers Rugby Club
Photos credit: Steve Wells
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