Elks return to 5 point Saturday

A brace of tries from Stand Off Jake Lamb were flanked by tries from Dan Taylor and Joel Haigh.

The Elks started strongly but mistakes and penalties were keeping Matlock in the chase. It was not until the half hour mark that Dan Taylor eventually broke through to go under the posts and with an earlier successful penalty from Haigh, brought the score to 0-10.

A series of penalties saw Matlock go from their 22m to our 22m using the peel around the front of the line to great effect finishing with a catch and drive over the line to score in the corner, unconverted 5-10 to finish the half. Another Matlock score the other side of half time saw them take the lead 12-10, with mistakes and penalties continuing to dog the Elks effort.

The Elks dominant scrum was starting to take its toll on the home pack, who eventually conceded a penalty in front of the sticks to give Haigh an easy conversion> The restart saw the Elks penalised and the earlier penalty cancelled out to bring the score to 15-13 in favor of the home side.

A determined Matlock continue to frustrate the Elks attack with forced and unforced errors still creeping in right up until 10 minutes to go, when the Elks took control from a series of broken plays and punished Matlock 3 times in succession, Lamb under the sticks twice and Haigh out wide – all converted to finish the scoring at 15-37.

The Elks can take heart in that the determination and dog missing in recent performances was back. Cutting out unforced errors, combined with improved decision making and the punishing nature of their ruthless open play, when combined make us a very potent side and could yet see us finish the season strongly.

A strong showing from the Elks front row and also Haigh with the boot all need mentioning, but MoM this week goes to double try scorer, Jake Lamb.

Next game is at home Saturday 9th April v Newark, 3pm kick off.