Royston 16 Ely Tigers A 13 A BAD-tempered second half saw Ely defeated on Saturday. Ely started brightly and dominated the early exchanges, recycling and moving the ball at pace. Lee Kupyn, on a typically powerful run, drew several defenders before pass

Royston 16

Ely Tigers A 13

A BAD-tempered second half saw Ely defeated on Saturday.

Ely started brightly and dominated the early exchanges, recycling and moving the ball at pace.

Lee Kupyn, on a typically powerful run, drew several defenders before passing to Mark Mitzman who stayed on his feet through the contact and delivered an excellent ball to Stacey Mould who rounded off the movement with a well deserved try and a 5-0 lead.

Dan Coulson put Ely 8-0 up with a successful penalty.

Royston seemed to find their feet and when Ely missed touch, the Royston full-back scooped up the ball on the half-volley and made good ground for the Royston fly-half to waltz through and score an unconverted try as Ely ball-watched.

A purposeful drive by number-eight Mark Goude, back after a long absence, led to a five-metre scrum. A back row move and secondary drive saw Lee Kupyn ground the ball for a try which Dan Coulson converted. Royston replied with a penalty and at half-time the score stood at 13-8 to the Tigers.

The second period proved to be a bad tempered affair as Royston, clearly sought to intimidate the Tigers.

Ely were unlucky to be held up over the line and improved their defensive organisation. They failed to put enough pressure on the Royston fly-half, however who posed real problems. Royston scored another try and penalty.

Cottenham Renegades 7

Ely III 5

AFTER Newmarket III called off the Merit Table fixture, then the rearranged fixture against Cambourne was cancelled on Friday lunchtime, it looked like Tigers would not have a game, but a chance conversation in the evening led to a quickly arranged fixture against Cottenham.

The game score did not change until just before half-time, when a breakout by Cottenham led to a try and successful conversion.

Both teams were running the ball but it was one of many Glenn Bennett breaks from number-eight which provided the opening for David Pople to beat the Cottenham defence and score between the posts, only for the conversion to be missed.

Thetford U-15 27 Ely Tigers 10

THIS match starting fairly evenly with Ely penetrating deep into the Thetford half. A lucky break on the wing, however, put Thetford seven points ahead.

Then it was Tigers' turn to retaliate and excellent running by the backs secured Dan Marsh a try. Just before half-time Thetford scored a try after breaking through the Ely back-line.

The Tigers launched a new offensive after half-time but as they tired, Thetford put more points on Ely.

In the last 10 minutes, Ely found new determination and a series of penalties allowed the Tigers to get several chances of a score and finally a try came, scored by Tim Evans.

Ely Tigers U-13 19

Cambridge 29

ELY started by pinning Cambridge back with a sustained offensive for 10 minutes.

Eventually Cambridge broke out and mounted a counter-attack to score. They scored one more for a half-time score in favour of the visitors leading 12-0.

The second half saw Ely regain their initial form but this time pressing home the attack, with winger Lewis Fell-Clarke running in their first try.

Within five minutes Doug Stewart, made a characteristic run from 30 metres out to score under the posts which Alex White converted, bringing the match level at 12-12.

Tigers took the lead through, possibly the individual try of the season, as Nedas Bartasrus stormed from the half-way line beating four defenders to score under the posts. The try was converted by Alex White to put Ely 19-12 up.

Cambridge had come to Ely with a large squad and fresh legs gained a distinct advantage, eventually breaking through the Ely defence, to score three more tries.

Mini-Section Round-up

TIGERS under-10s travelled to Huntingdon and played two games, both of which were lost.

In the first Huntingdon kept a clean sheet, winning 25-0.

The second was slightly better for Ely as they lost 20-5 with the lone try coming from their player of the match, Jake Crowe-Haylett.

The under-nines travelled to Huntingdon one man short. The first game ended 5-5. Ely's try scorer was Monty Francis, on loan from Huntingdon.

The second match was also drawn, 15-15. Once again a Huntingdon player (George Napier) on loan to Ely, scored against the home team whilst the Tigers' other try scorers were Callum Luker and Luke Brown.

The latecomers arrived for Ely before the third game and through sheer determination Tigers won 10-5 thanks to tries from Ronan Cook and player of the match Callum Luker.

The under-eights were against the county champions. The first game ended 25-10 to Huntingdon with two tries to Joseph Shirley. The second was strewn with turnovers but a solitary try by George Bowman was Tigers' only reward as they went down 40-25.

The third match was much better as the Tigers matched Huntingdon 25-25 at half-time with a hat-trick by Joseph Shirley and individual tries by William Hurst and Ellie Burns.

The second-half saw missed opportunities for Ely and three tries to Huntingdon as they won 40-25.

The Tiger-Sevens managed four games against Huntingdon, finishing with a win and two draws.