Ely Tigers 35 West Norfolk 5

Rugby

ELY signed off for 2012 with another crushing league victory, this time over a strong West Norfolk side.

Once again, John Dibb’s men dominated the early exchanges and were out of sight before their opponents had time to react, running home five tries in a polished display.

The Tigers have scored more than 30 points in their last four matches, notching up bonus points on each occasion and making them the form team in the Eastern Counties Division One as they end the year in third place.

As they did in their last two matches against Thurston and Harwich, the Tigers dominated the first five minutes and it wasn’t long before West Norfolk conceded a penalty for offside; Sam Benzie securing the three points.

Ten minutes later Ely found themselves in their own twenty-two but Ed Fahy used the wind to his advantage and kicked behind the opposition full-back, allowing Ely to pile on the pressure.

As a West Norfolk winger faltered, Tim Evans ripped the ball and Luke Cornwell pounced on it and crashed through defence while they were on the back foot and placed down over the line. Benzie converted the two points.

West Norfolk began to fight back, they were able to maintain possession and eventually pushed Ely back into the twenty-two. Quick thinking allowed them to use a blindside overlap and score in the corner.

In the run up to half-time however, Ely dominated the ball, and fast hands from the backs shipped the ball to Duncan Fraser who ran over the line for a try.

Just before the end of the half Ely used a blindside overlap to put Kevin Houghton into space. One-on-one with the opposing full-back, Houghton opted to put ball to boot. It was a beautifully weighted grubber kick which bounced over the try line for Houghton to dive on and score.

Within the first few minutes of the second half, West Norfolk conceded a penalty and Benzie added another three points. A few minutes later, the Ely forwards were gaining hard yards. They secured fast ball for the Ely backs, which made its way down the line to Benzie who stepped the opposing winger to score in the corner.

In the dying stages of the match, a clever move from the Ely backs allowed Benzie to break the defensive line. He was brought down but managed to offload to Scott Paul who ran it in for the final score of the day. Man of the match went to Lee Coulson.