Tigers too hot to handle for lowly Mersea

Action from Ely Tigers' match against Mersea.Picture: www.swphoto.co.uk (Image: Archant)

Rampant Ely Tigers showed no quarter as they brushed aside Mersea, on Saturday.

Ely opened the scoring within the first minute and never looked back, running over 11 tries in a one-sided affair.

The win all but seals a second place finish for the Tigers this season, after victory opened up a 14-point gap between themselves and Newmarket, in third.

The match was scarcely three minutes old when Ely found themselves 19-0 ahead, with tries from Mitchell Kennett, Lloyd Palmer and Charlie Coupland. Matt McCarthy added two conversions.

Shortly after, the Ely forwards turned over an opposition ruck and Lewis Harvey sprinted in from the twenty-two for a converted try. Ely continued to run through the opposition, McCarthy fumbled the ball onto his foot for John Dibb to pick up and dash through.

Dibb was able to offload to Jim Storey, running a superb support line, for a converted try. Kennett scored again a minute later after he crashed through the defence tumbling through a tackle only to get back up and touch down for an unconverted try.

Kevin Houghton finished off the half by scoring under posts after receiving an inside ball.

With victory already assured, Ely turned their attention to points in the second half but play slowed down as Mersea held onto the ball when they could.

Matt McCarthy finally re-started the scoring for Ely with an simple run in from a turnover scrum. Reckless play from Mersea saw them drop the ball deep in their territory and Lee Coulson pounced, running through the defence for a converted try. Ely forced their way back into the twenty-two and gained a penalty. Lloyd Palmer took it quickly and offloaded to Mitchell Kennett who crashed through for his hat-trick.

McCarthy was able to get his hat-trick when he scored in the latter stages.

In the last play of the game Mersea had a run of possession and were able to score an unconverted try after a series of pick-and-drives forced them over the line