Greene King Cup Final Upper Clapton A 11 Ely Tigers II 23 THE annual Greene King Cup Finals day was held at Upper Clapton this year, and Ely faced a tough task against the home side. Upper Clapton kicked off and the Tigers worked upfield, helped by oppos

Greene King Cup Final

Upper Clapton A 11

Ely Tigers II 23

THE annual Greene King Cup Finals day was held at Upper Clapton this year, and Ely faced a tough task against the home side.

Upper Clapton kicked off and the Tigers worked upfield, helped by opposition penalties and, finally being awarded one within kicking distance. Matt Daybell obliged by kicking three points. Upper Clapton kicked off again, Ely infringed and the Upper Clapton kicker levelled the scores.

The Tigers steadied, keeping possession and territorial advantage and, after 10 minutes, Ely were awarded another kickable penalty which again Matt Daybell kicked to regain the lead, 6-3. As the game wore on, Upper Clapton applied pressure and a poor piece of Ely defence from an Upper Clapton line-out nearly produced a score but the resultant scrum became a penalty which Clapton kicked to level the scores.

The Tigers came back from this setback, working upfield to win a 15-metre line-out. They drove the maul forward before individuals drove off it twice. The second by David Lloyd successfully breached the defence and he crashed over the line for the try. Daybell kicked the conversion for a

13-6 lead.

The backs skilfully worked an overlap for full-back Kieran Kennett to outpace the defence from 40 metres out and run around under the posts to score. Daybell kicked the conversion for a healthy 20-6 scoreline.

Upper Clapton put in a furious onslaught but the Tigers defence held them out for a long time but eventually they scored in the corner leaving Ely still 20-11 up.

Ely broke out through Kieran Kennett. He kicked long and the Upper Clapton cover, caught upfield, could only kick the ball out over the dead-ball area for a five-metre scrum.

Upper Clapton infringed in the resultant play and Matt Daybell kicked another penalty to win the game for Ely.

Broadland 12 Ely Tigers 20

ELY kicked off and settled immediately into their stride through interplay between forwards and backs, recycling possession quickly.

At the end of a superb drive by the Ely pack, scrum-half Efion Davies sent Sam Sanders, making his league debut at fly-half, into space where his beautifully-timed pass sent Tom Jackson in for the opening try to give the Tigers a 5-0 lead.

From a defensive scrum, intense pressure from Eifion Davies and wing Lee Coulson saw them charge down the attempted clearance and Lee Coulson win the race to the touch down for a

10-0 lead.

Ely had a succession of five-metre scrums on the Broadland line which collapsed as the Tigers pack drove. Eventually Ely managed to hold their opponents up and send the ball along the back line where Tom Jackson held his man cleverly to send skipper Carl Ward over for a well deserved try. Ely went in to half-time with a 15-0 lead.

Early in the second-half Ely won a midfield scrum then a half break, several passes and Ely's winger Lee Coulson, was on his way, jinking and accelerating for the try of the day.

Broadland got onto the scoreboard and edged into the game. Broadland scored again when Carl Ward charged down a kick ahead only for it to land in the hands of a supporting player who made the most of his good fortune.

The fresh legs of Dan Coulson as replacement scrum-half helped to partially revive Ely and they came close to scoring with a superb break but the win had been acheived.

Under-Eights

The Tigers lost their first game 25-5 to Buckingham with Asley Clarke scoring Ely's try then encouragingly drew with BB Old Boys 25-25.

Tries by Joseph Shirley, William Hurst, Ruairidh Macdonald, Ashley Clark and a try in the last seconds by Pierce Atkinson gave Ely a well-deserved draw.

They were outplayed, however, by Old Northamptonians 45-10. The highlights for Ely were tries by Joseph Shirley and William Hurst.

Finally they lost their last game to Huntingdon 25-5 with George Bowman getting a try.