Tigers are tested at battling West Norfolk

Rugby West Norfolk 31 Ely Tigers 34

ELY made it back-to-back league wins with a hard-fought victory over West Norfolk on Saturday.

The hosts started off strongly against the Tigers and a quick show of hands allowed the winger space to run, with the first try of the game duly touched down.

John Dibb’s side were unfazed however, and pushed the opposition back into their twenty-two from the re-start. A wonderfully weighted chip from Ed Fahy bounced over the try line for captain Dibb, to dive onto. Joel Scott Paul followed with the conversion.

A few moments later, Ely found themselves in the same position. In a well-crafted backs move, Kevin Houghton came off his wing and broke through the opposition defence; placing down under the posts for a converted try.

West Norfolk had a spurt of possession and an inside ball forced the centre through a gap in the Ely defence. The centre was taken down before the line but was able to offload and score under the posts for a converted try.

Before the end of the half, Ely gained a penalty in the opposition twenty-two and Scott Paul obliged, making it 17-12 at the break.

West Norfolk held onto the ball for most of the second half. They were able to score within the first five minutes after a well-worked forward maul. Not long after, the hosts managed another converted try as they stretched the Ely defence.

The visitors roared back into the match in fine style, though, running over a pair of tries. The first was from Mitchell Kennett, who used his brute force to crash over the line. The second was from man of the match Sam Carr-Archer, who broke through the defence and smashed his way through the opposition full-back. Both were converted. To widen the gap in the score, Ely opted to go for the posts and Scott Paul kicked the three points. Just before the end of the match, West Norfolk got a consolation try with a magnificent counter-attack.