Home Defeat Hurts

On a day when the sun shone brightly and supporters wore short sleves and shorts the Elks could not match the weather and delivered a damp and somewhat disappointing performance at the Stute on Saturday. The growing injury list, with Scott Rudkin, Adam Stoker, Ellis Hallam and Pete Smith added to the the absentees, gave some excuse for the at times disjointed performance.

The return of Greg Taylor and the energy of the the two debutants, Tom McKelvey in the back row and Fergus Jones on the wing, gave some reason for cheer, but there is much to fix if the Elks are going to start to build their season before the top of the table table open too big a gap. There were some good areas. Garland, Bennett and McKelvey
generally secured their own line out ball but errors and knock ons meant it was too often delivered to Haigh in an unusable fashion.

While never comfortable the scrum covered its own ball, despite the loss of Charlton, replaced by Clarke at half time, with Pringle and Moore also making themselves available around the park. Chenoweth and Corcoran were often effective ball carriers and never shirked their defensive duties, but these were individual bits and pieces and the pack as a whole never really got to grips with a very abrasive Towcestrians unit.

The backs likewise showed some good individual touches but too often the pass was rushed or the ball lost in the contact area. The number of turnovers was probably the deciding factor in the game. Greg Taylor showed he is well on the way to full fitness after surgery and a long lay off. His brothers Lewis and Dan always looked dangerous with the ball in hand and shared the Elks three tries with Lewis getting one and Dan two.

The new boy Jones showed he has the pace and will surely thrive given better ball to work with. Gatehouse was his usual reliable self but his bullocking runs in midfield lacked the support to be used to best effect. The half backs Connolly and Haigh tried to ignite a spark which would get the Elks into full flow but the turnovers and quality of ball provided made it a difficult task.

The game was played at frantic pace making good use of firm conditions underfoot. Dan Taylor got the home side off to the perfect start when he made the most of Corcorans pick from the scrum to dash through a gap to score after twelve minutes. Connolly converted.

The visitors claimed the next two scores. The first to Causbrook and the second to Banks. Both were fashioned by the ability of Yuill and George to use the boot to pin the Elks back, and the collective forwards to turn the ball from scrum or line out into rolling mauls
which were irresistible. Yuill converted one to give Towcestrians a 7 - 12 lead at half time.

The second half had just got going when errors again gave the visitors a scrum five. The earlier recipe was repeated and Kirby claimed a
try, converted by Yuill, to stretch the lead to 7 - 19. The Elks could have succombed at this point but at last found some continuity when
Haigh, Dan Taylor and Hicks set up ruck inside the visitors twenty two. The ball was quickly recycled by Corcoran and Gatehouses finely
judged chip set up race between Lewis Taylor and Carter which Taylor won to touch down in the corner and reduce the arrears to 12 -19
at nineteen minutes into the half.

Four minutes later the the score was levelled with Dan Taylors second try and Connolly's touchline conversion. From a solid scrum the
ball was mauled forward, sucking in defenders. When it was released Taylor spotted a gap and dived into the corner. Having fought their
way back into the game the Elks gave it away with a sloppy piece of play. A poor kick and chase gave Yuill space to counter from deep
and link with Harvey who strolled over unopposed. Yuill converted to give the visitors a 19 - 26 lead which they clung onto until the final whistle.

Man of the match Gordon Pringle