A day to forget for the Elks

Despite missing several key players through holiday and injury this display was well below the standards of recent seasons.

Newbold began much brighter and were 12-0 up within 9 mins as they found overlaps on the left to run in 2 unopposed tries.

Elks had their first visit to the Newbold 22 and were rewarded with 3 points from the boot of Andor Benyi following a penalty for a high tackle.

This had a positive impact on the Elks and they attacked again and received another penalty, again slotted by Andor to make it 12-6 after 22 mins.

Newbold attacked from the kick off and caught the Elks offside, the resulting penalty was struck cleanly to make it 15-6 after 29 mins.

The next 10 mins saw no real threat from either side and the final chance fell to Newbold when Elks were penalised and Newbold kicked to the corner, the line out was caught and a well organised rolling maul saw them crash over on the left, extras added to make it 22-6 on the stroke of half time. Alex Ayres replaced by Sam Humphries.

Elks were penalised at the kick off and Newbold extended their lead to 25-6 after 42 mins. From the Elks kick off Newbold returned the ball all the way up field to score unopposed with some poor tackling on display, extras added to make it 32-6 after 45 mins. Will Taylor replaced Isaac Taylor and Chapman replaced Nathan Jones, but a late injury to Paul Stevenson meant Nathan returned shortly afterwards.

Heads visibly dropped through the Elks ranks and the next half hour saw Newbold run riot through a very disorganised defence scoring six further tries with four converted, Elks scored a late consolation try through Joe Marsden, converted by Andor.

This completed the scoring leaving it 70-13 at the final whistle. This was without doubt the worst Elks display for several years with the squad looking completely unprepared for the start of the season.

Next week sees a trip to Northampton Old Scouts, the Elks need to regroup quickly and come back fighting next Saturday.