Ely Tigers faced third in the league Bury 2s at Cambridge Commodities Park on the weekend.
From the start of the game Tigers showed their intention, from a Bury line out, which Ely stole the ball to set up the attack, seeing the ball pass through the hands of Jordan Barnes, Lee Thompson and Jim Storey finally seeing Matt McCarthy crossing the try line, McCarthy added the conversion for the perfect start, the next attack saw the home side awarded a penalty in front of the points, McCarthy opted to add the points to extend the lead to 10-0
With twenty one minutes on the clock, Ely win a penalty close to the Bury try line, they push forward looking for gaps in the defensive line, the ball found Storey who dived over the line, with the conversion added, direct from the restart the home side was able to extend the lead as Luke Turner broke free to score to the right of the posts, McCarthy added the conversion as they extended the lead to 24 points.
The only blot on the first half for the home side was Paul Dewey was forced off due to injury, on came his replacement, Jim Reed, who made an impact straight away as he broke free on the stroke of half time, even a stumble failed to stop him as he crossed the try line for his first try for the club, McCarthy added the conversion in front of the posts to give the home as 31-0 lead at the break.
The start of the second half saw a yellow card for Bury, which saw the award of a penalty to Tigers, McCarthy added the three points, from the restart Ely attack once more, with Ely pushing forward the ball went out to McCarthy who raced forward from former Tigers player Ash Clark into the corner to score, leaving himself a difficult kick, but McCarthy made no mistake to extend the lead.
Bury started to push forward and finally got on the scoresheet, after a period of pressure on the home side back line, eventually crossing the line, conversion was missed, the score seemed to lift the visitors as again they went once more on the attack, during this period it was the home side that went down to 14 as Declan Wolverson was shown a yellow card, Ely held up Bury and went on the attack again, winning a penalty, which was moved a further 10 meters forward after dissent from Bury, opting for the scrum Tigers moved the ball from right to left, finding Dan Piper out of the wing to score, this time McCarthy wasn’t able to add to his points tally
From the restart, a mis-placed ball from the home side allowed Bury their second try of the afternoon, which was soon followed by the third, with the conversion added, the score stood at 46-17 as the game drew to a close, Luke Turner broke free once more, he was brought down, and a penalty was awarded for a high tackle, McCarthy opting to kick for the extra points, he watched as the ball hit the inside of the posts and dropped the right side of the uprights as the final score finished 49-17
Next Saturday the side travel to league leaders Shelford 2’s
Press release from Ely Tigers Rugby Club
Photo credit: Steve Wells
You must be logged in to post a comment.