U12's behind twice but comeback to take victory!!
U12's second win from two.
The Elks travelled to West Bridgford for their second match of the season, following last week's victory against Melbourne.
Despite warming up well, the Elks conceded an early score within 3 minutes due to a number of missed tackles, an area of the game that Ilkeston need to focus on. The Bridgford try was converted to leave Ilkeston 7-0 down.
The Ilkeston forwards started to dominate, with the pack out-scrummaging and out-rucking their opposition. Excellent rucking from Sloane, Brooks and Blount enabled Laurence Pilkington to pick up and drive from close quarters to score, the try however remaining unconverted.
Towards the end of the first half, Connor Freeman, playing very well at Hooker, collected the ball from a short throw at the lineout and outsprinted the Bridgford defence to score his first try for the club. Again the try went unconverted, but Ilkeston had turned the game around 10-7 to the good.
Ilkeston started the second half brightly, but were held by a solid Bridgford defence, led by number 8 Ziggy Chmiel. The Bridgford centre posed challenges all day for Ilkeston, and following a quick penalty, raced away for an excellent solo try.
Ilkeston's star centre Olly Davidson was a constant threat to Bridgford, and following one of many excellent drives, earned a penalty 5m from the Bridgford line. Quick thinking from Harry Taylor secured the points and match for Ilkeston, as he took the quick tap and scampered over for his second of the season.
Man of the Match : Forwards ; Laurence Pilkington - Backs ; Oliver Davidson
In the second game of the day, Ilkeston gave their more inexperienced players a run out including Reece pearson, making his debut for the club, and last week's debutante, James Hickinbotham. The Elks also experimented with some positional changes, and despite losing by 3 tries to 2, this developing team showed good progression. Tries in this game came from Oliver Davidson and Josh Elder, capping an excellent day for both....Kit Taylor.
Team :
1 Josh Brookes 2 Connor Freeman 3 Laurence Pilkington
4 Daniel Sloane 5 Ben Billingham
8 Joe Blount
9 Harry Taylor
10 Josh Elder
12 Oliver Davidson
13 Thomas Skinner
11 Charlie Marriott
14 Byron Bull-Jones
15 Pym Westrick
16 Matt Marriott
17 Reece Pearson
18 Ben Moss
19 James Hickinbotham