U11's report vs Melton Mowbray

Ilkeston under 11s made the journey to a new fixture away at Melton Mowbray. This fixture saw the Elks defunct of regular key player, however were pleased to welcome back forwards Connor Connelly and Jordan Pritchett to add strength. During the warm up it was difficult for the coaches to keep the players' minds away from the huge size of the Melton forwards!!

From the kick off, Melton showed their size and broke through the despairing tackles of the Ilkeston forwards, luckily for the away team the ball was knocked on which led to the first scrum of the day. Scrum half Connor Corrigan placed the ball in, and the generally solid Ilkeston pack were immediately moved back and started to dread the rest of the day! Solid tackling from centres Cameron Greenfield and Tom Caines ensured the defence wasn't broken until the home side’s sprightly scrum half broke from the scrum and supplied clean ball for their winger to score a converted try. Almost straight from the kick off Melton's second row broke through three tackles only stopped by resolute tackling from the centres and wingers Zack Lebeter and Sam Rose. The ruck allowed the home side to set their backs in their positions and quick ball provided a break in the Ilkeston defence for them to score their second converted try. Even with all this pressure the young Elks heads did not drop and with their usual great travelling supporters, were able to raise their game and ensure they were rewarded before half time. This came from a tap penalty of fly half Isaac Smith who fed Greenfield who like a battering ram scored straight through the Melton fragile defence, Smith converting. Half time Melton Mowbray 14 Ilkeston 7.

The half time discussion between the Ilkeston coaches and players set out what was required over the next twenty minutes however the game plan went completely out of the window within the next five minutes as Melton Mowbray immediately ran in two tries, One of which was converted. Finally Ilkeston awoke, the forwards through Alfie Cox, Jack Walker, Pritchett, Felix Rasbusin, Connelly and the outstanding Billy Derbyshire finally started to win their scrums, compete in rucks and present clean ball for Corrigan. An injury to Smith required Joseph Doughty to swap positions from full back and further shuffles in the backs showed the flexibility and willingness of players to develop. Luke Moore tackled his arms off bringing down players far bigger than himself. All these changes started to pay dividends particularly from the constant pressure of Caines as he tackled every player and pushed them backwards. A brisk ball from the scrum allowed Doughty to feed Caines who rounded the winger to break and score, Smith again converting.
Confidence refound and a question mark in the homes sides minds, Ilkeston forged forwards straight from the kick off and were rewarded with a penalty on the half way. Connelly took the ball from Smith and he charged forwards forcing the opposition to bounce off him. A further indiscretion from a Melton player led to a penalty on the seven metre line. Ilkeston changed the runner and Greenfield stepped up and barged through to score his second of the match, again converted by Smith. On the ascendency Ilkeston were stopped by an injury to Cox, and with only moments to go applied pressure on the Melton defence but the home side held strong to win the game. Final score Melton Mowbray 26 Ilkeston 21.

A well drilled home side offered a challenge to the Elks who performed extremely well with each player stepping up and showed how well the whole squad has developed this season.

Man of the Match – Forwards : Billy Derbyshire, Backs :Joseph Doughty

Jon Doughty