Elks draw a blank at Kettering

Elks began well enough seeing plenty of ball, they had their first trip to the Kettering 22 but the ball squirted out of a ruck and Kettering pounced on the loose ball, they counter attacked and scored in the right corner, extras missed making it 5-0 after 4 mins.

Elks responded well with another attack but again they could not look after the ball at the breakdown resulting in a carbon copy of the first try, extras missed making it 10-0 after 11 mins.

The effort from the Elks was good but individual errors were gifting possession back to Kettering, who always looked a threat with ball out wide.

Elks had another attacking opportunity from a line out but Kettering were defending well denying the Elks any quick ball to attack with.

Again the Elks attacked but were turned over and Kettering counter attacked, they chipped ahead and gathered the ball to run in a third try, extras added making it 17-0 after 26 mins.

Elks were penalised in midfield and Kettering kicked to the corner, the line out was caught and driven over on 32 mins, extras added making it 24-0

No further scores were registered before half time.

The second half followed a similar pattern with plenty of effort from the Elks but no decisive cutting edge to break through a stubborn defence, the game lost some impetus as Kettering already had the bonus point and Elks tried to chase the game.

The only score of the half was a further try for Kettering making the final score 29-0

Despite plenty of effort the Elks could not recapture the good form of the past 3 weeks as the team never really gelled and had few opportunities to score, also errors at the breakdown gifted possession to Kettering who were clinical in taking their chances to score.

The league takes a much break next week with a return to league rugby on March 19th with a home fixture against Market Rasen coinciding with the clubs Ladies Day