County Cup Semi-Final Shelford 104 Ely Tigers 0 ANY hopes that Ely Tigers had entertained of competing with their illustrious opponents were apparently blown away with the referee s starting whistle. Almost before they had time to draw breath, a shell-sh

County Cup Semi-Final

Shelford 104 Ely Tigers 0

ANY hopes that Ely Tigers had entertained of competing with their illustrious opponents were apparently blown away with the referee's starting whistle.

Almost before they had time to draw breath, a shell-shocked and bewildered Ely had made three errors and conceded 21 points. Shelford displayed a ruthless and clinical determination to totally dominate.

Shelford's pace and skill carved the Tigers midfield defence apart, exposing the desperate cover defenders, of whom Lee Coulson was outstanding throughout.

The Tigers did manage to put effective pressure on Shelford on several occasions and showed what they can do if allowed, unfortunately they were not and after three or four phases, promising attacks were snuffed out and Ely hit on the counter.

Newmarket A XV 0

Ely Tigers 2nd XV 22

ON an overcast, dark and miserable day, Ely Tigers travelled to Newmarket to take over the A XV fixture with a squad of 19 but minus a few regulars.

The first scrum summarised the first half as the Tigers pack powered Newmarket off their ball to set up one of a series of attacking plays.

It was not long before Newmarket had a scrum 30 metres out from their own line. The Tigers drove the scrum forwards and the defending side produced a hurried ball back to the fly-half, but his kick was charged down by Iain Scott and from the melee, Ely were awarded the scrum about five metres out.

Again the shove was applied and Chris Ball broke blind and scored for an early 5-0 lead.

Newmarket defended well and Ely, although dominant, could not create a try for some time. Then as Newmarket started to get back in the game with long kicks from fly-half, Ely forced a scrum on the opposition 22-metre line and quick hands produced an overlap for Carl Ward to score. Matt Daybell converted to extend the lead to 12-0.

Just before half-time the backs produced a skilful bit of handling and timing from which Carl Ward ran through to score under the posts. Daybell converted for a 19-0 half-time lead.

The Newmarket fly-half made use of increased possession to keep Ely back in their own half with long kicks. However, Gareth Mills kicked a penalty to seal Ely's 22-0 win.

Bury St Edmunds Under-16s 85

Ely Tiger-16s 5

MIKE Malloy got Ely's only try in this match as Bury really showed their class, despite a determined effort from the Tigers.

Ely Tiger-15s 28 Sudbury Under-15s 5

THIS match started badly with Ely soon finding themselves on their try-line. But good rucking secured the ball and with an excellent break, Ely hooker, Karl Turpie sprinted the full length of the pitch to score a try. This was soon followed by a try from Tim Evans who also ran the full length of the pitch to score.

Disaster struck when Royston broke the Ely defence and scored a try.

Within minutes Jamie Robinson got them their third try from a break from a ruck and to finish the game with only minutes left, Jerome Scott Paul managed to find a gap in the defence and score Ely's last try. The match ended 28-5 with four successful conversions by Chris Hobson.

Ely Tiger-14s 34

Sudbury Under-14s 0

THE Tiger-14s' first home game of the year brought out a large crowd to the Ely ground.

Sudbury kicked off and found themselves straightaway under pressure from the Ely forwards. They released the three-quarters and their work was finished by Ben Fordham. Sheridan Mead converted for an early 7-0 Tigers lead.

A solo run by Josh Alderson put Ely in the Sudbury 22-metre area and Lawrence Middleton was held up over the line before a charged-down Sudbury kick led to Dougie Stewart scoring under the posts. Mead converted.

Ben Fordham scored again with a strong runm, handing off many opposition players on the way. Despite sterling defensive work from Sudbury, successive attacks from the Ely three-quarters led to Dougie Stewart getting his second try for a 24-0 Tigers lead at half-time.

Soon Dougie Stewart scored his third try. Then after a Sudbury revival, Jack Brownie conjured up a try from nothing for a final score of 34-0 to the Tiger-14s.