Ely Tigers made the short trip to Wisbech for their final league game of 2021, having already met last month, where Tigers run out 62-17 winners, the side were looking to complete the double and keep the pressure on league leaders, Holt.
The game started well for the home side, scoring the first try of the afternoon on 10 minutes to give them an early lead, the conversion points couldn’t be added as the ball drifted wide, a poor clearance from Wisbech enabled Ely to go on the attack, Jake Alsop picked up the ball by the try line, with Adam Tallack to cross over the try line to draw the sides level, with the conversion added by Alsop, Tigers edged the lead, the lead was quickly doubled, an Ely scrum and some quick hands saw captain Matt McCarthy dance thru the Wisbech defence to score, again Alsop was able to add the extra points to open up a gap, from the restart the Tigers got caught napping allowing Wisbech to go over the try line, a mirror attack of the first, again the conversion was missed.
The home side went down to 14 men after the player kicked the ball away after the award of a penalty in front of the posts, inside the 22, it seemed that with the home side down a man, the option of going for the try would have made sense, but captain McCarthy opted for the 3 points, Alsop obliged and slotted the ball over, meaning Wisbech would need a try and conversion to draw level, Ely opened the gap further, this time with Charlie Coupland finding a gap to go over after finding another gap in the backline, Alsop again added the extra points, with half time looming there was still chance, with Nathan Brooks finding another gap in the back line to dive over for a try, Alsop was unable to add the points from the angle, with that the referee blew for end of the half with Ely leading 29-10
A stop/start beginning to the second half saw the penalty count for both sides increase, and it gave Alsop the chance to add to his points tally of the afternoon from inside the 22 and in front of goal, he easily made the points, but again from the restart, Ely got punished with Wisbech picking up a loose ball, and missed tackles enabled Harry Holmes to go over unchallenged, the conversion was missed.
The game started to eb and flow, with the side starting to gain some extra meters, a low kick forward put Wisbech inside the 5 meter line, giving them the chance to apply pressure on the Tigers backline, Tigers managed to steal the ball from the line out, given Ryan Clark the chance to clear the ball, but the home side was able to come back and apply more pressure, another line out gave Wisbech the ideal chance, but it was deemed not straight allowing Ely another chance to clear their lines, after soaking up the pressure, Ely once more crossed the try line, with Alsop finding the speed and the gaps to race towards the try line, unchallenged he crossed the line under the post where he converted the points, Alsop was soon back on kicking duties as another penalty was awarded inside the 22, and again the three points were added.
Another break from Ely’s Paul Dewey, saw Wisbech finish the game with 14, as Dewey released the ball the tackle came in late, and the yellow card came out, Ely finished the game on top, with two more try’s, Mitchell Kennett scored his first try of the afternoon, Alsop wasn’t able to add the conversion points, while McCarthy added his second try of the afternoon, from a kick forward, McCarthy raced forward and showed some neat foot work to knock the ball over the line before adding the hand to put the ball down under the posts, with Alsop adding the extra points to complete the scoring for the that afternoon as Tigers run out 54-15 winners
The win moves Tigers into second place, and hope to pick up on the 15th January when the league program resumes after the Christmas break with an away fixture against Fakenham.
Press release from Ely Tigers Rugby Club
Photo credit: Steve Wells
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