Tigers soundly beaten in derby clash

Rugby Newmarket 39 Ely Tigers 12

LOCAL rivals Newmarket inflicted a heavy defeat on Ely on Saturday, seriously denting their promotion ambitions.

From the outset, Ely struggled to win their set pieces against Newmarket, making it hard to maintain any possession and the hosts were able to score two tries in the first 15 minutes as they profited.

The first score came from a quick ball to the wing, who touched down in the corner. The second try came down just a few minutes later as, after an fortunate bounce of the ball, Newmarket pounced and scored a converted try under the posts.

Ely gained an advantage when Newmarket lost a player to the bin after an intentional knock-on, but were unable to convert any points. Before the end of the half Newmarket were able to run over another converted try and two penalties to stretch their lead to 18-0.

Ely regrouped for the start of the second half and started playing better rugby. After a magnificent break from Sam Benzie, quick ball was recycled and came out to winger Joel Scott Paul who touched down for an unconverted try in the corner.

Ely then lost scrum half Dan Coulson to the sin bin and Benzie took over his position for the next 10 minutes. John Dibb’s side were able to maintain possession whilst being a man down.

Quick ball came out to Giles Skiba who sprinted down the line and chipped a perfectly weighted kick into the opposition twenty-two. Unable to field the kick, the full-back fumbled the ball, Skiba failed to pick up but had Scott Paul on his tail, who picked up and put down under the posts. Benzie kicked the two points.

Despite their improvement, Ely couldn’t keep up this form whilst losing scrums, line-outs and giving away penalties. Newmarket put three more converted tries past the Tigers before the full-time whistle, the last of which being a mistake from Ely.