Ely Tigers travelled to Diss for a rearranged fixture from the opening day of the season, again the squad of 18 saw a number of changes due to injury and player unavailability which meant another shuffle around for the coaching staff.
The game started with neither side able to take a foothold on the game, but Diss looked the brighter of the sides, and had the first chance of the game, winning a line out close by the Tigers try line, winning the ball they moved the ball across the park, the move broke down with Ely winning a penalty giving them the chance to clear, the kicked clearance failed to find touch and the home side set up another attack, but again the move broke down with Ely winning another penalty.
Ely started to come more into the game and were given a chance to put some points on the board with a penalty, Jake Alsop deciding to kick for the points, but his kick was pushed to the right of the posts, giving the ball back to Diss to clear their lines, soon after Tigers took the lead, winning the ball from a scrum Adam Tallack broke out and waited to the prefect moment before releasing the ball to Tom Elliott who sprinted free to score the opening try, Alsop was unable to convert the conversion.
The next chance fell to the home side, winning a line out on the left hand side they moved the ball out to the right, with a man over, and the try line begging, the final ball bounced of the Diss players chest and to the ground and to safety, from a Diss scrum Ely were pulled up for a knock on giving Diss a chance to make some yards up field with half time approaching, another penalty to the home side, this one was in range to add some points to the scoreboard, as the home crowd watched on, many had already added the three points on, but the kick was hooked left of the posts, much to manys disbelief, with the last play of the half the home side were finally level, Ely cleared the ball into Diss half, had the ball found touch it would have been half time, but the ball stayed in play finding the scrum half who broke free missing tackles, finally finding a team mate who carried on to score, the conversion was missed as the half finished 5-5.
The second half saw Tigers take the lead once more, with Jake Alsop converting a penalty , but the lead didn’t last long as the home side bounced back, a kick forward found a gap leading to the Diss player picking up the ball to cross the try line, with the conversion added the home side opened a gap, the lead was soon extended further as Ely missed their tackles as a another try and conversion saw the score 19-8, at this point there was only one side in the game, the score soon went to 26-8, as once again Ely were unable to hold on to the tackles which allowed Diss to score a further try.
Soon after the restart a quickly taken penalty saw Tallack dive over the line to score the Tigers second try, Alsop was unable to add the conversion, back came the home side, but again the penalty count was increasing as Ely were awarded another, this gave Matt McCarthy the chance to gain some meters inside the Diss half, but the scrum half kept the ball in play to set up another attack putting the Tigers on the back foot, it was during this attack that the home side scored their final try of the afternoon, the conversion was missed as the score stood at 31-13, from the restart Ely pushed forward to win another penalty, which saw the home side go down to 14 men following a yellow card, it also signaled the end of the game. The game also saw further injuries sustained to the squad for this coming weekends trip to bottom side Ipswich YM.
Press release from Ely Tigers Rugby Club
Photo credit: Steve Wells
You must be logged in to post a comment.