Injuries blunt Ely as they take on league leaders Wymondham

A SWATHE of injuries over the festive period blunted Ely’s chances as they lost out to league leaders Wymondham on Saturday.

Before the match had even started, Ely lost their fly half Ed Fahy, who sustained an injury in the pre-match warm up and their depleted ranks became increasingly telling as the hosts romped away in the closing stages.

John Dibb’s men can look forward to a charge up the league in the second half of the season though, as they remain in third place in Eastern Counties Division One.

A solid first five minutes by Ely looked positive as they sought to pick up in 2013 where they had left of last year, where they racked up seven wins in 11 matches.

A firm scrum allowed clean ball out to Dibb and before he could be taken down, he was able to offload to man of the match Joel Scott Paul, giving him to space to run. Scott Paul was brought down ten metres before the opposition try line, but moved the ball to winger Laurent Espitalier who crashed down for the Ely forwards to recycle. Lewis Harvey, showing true strength, brought two men over with him before placing down for the first try of the day.

In the next five minutes, however, Ely had lost their replacement fly half through injury and Joel Scott Paul was forced into the number ten slot. With the constant shuffling and many players out of their regular positions, Ely began to falter.

Soon after the restart, Ely conceded a penalty as well as a yellow card for holding on; Wymondham kicked for territory and gained a line-out in Ely’s five metre line. A well worked line-out move from the Wymondham forwards allowed them to crash through and score an unconverted try.

The next few tries for Wymondham came from constant unforced errors made by Ely, including silly penalties and mis-kicks. Ely’s position wasn’t helped either - with only 14 players on the pitch.

Just before the end of match, a solid scrum from Ely forced pressure on the Wymondham scrum half and Harry Rogerson, at flanker, pounced on their number 9 who failed to release the ball and Ely were awarded a penalty try for his efforts.