Injury Ravaged Elks Go Down At Rasen

With twelve regulars injured or unavailable a victory in Lincolnshire was a big ask. To come away with a losing bonus point was some consolation for a young side who on the day were full of energy and ambition but short of forward power and experience. Conceeding huge weight advantage the Elks pack strugggled in the tight and had no answer to Rasen's main attacking weapon, the driving maul, from which they scored one try through Cole and created another for Harvey.

The visitors took time to get over the long journey and conceeded two tries in the first ten minutes. The first from Neesham when Rasen fielded a poor clearance kick and took advantage of a lack of chase to counter. Good support and poor tackling gave them the space to score close to the posts. Grint added the extras to make it 7 - 0 after just four minutes. The Elks went further behind six minutes later when a line out close to the line was driven, sucking in the defence and giving Harvey space to squeeze into the corner to stretch the lead to 12 - 0.

The Elks at last came to life after sixteen minutes when Rudkin fielded a kick and moved the ball infield to Bennett. He found Moore who linked with Hicks. His finely timed pass set Taylor on a sprint to the corner. Connolly converted to put the Elks back in the game at 12 - 7. Finding some rythym the visitors began to put some phases together. Gwynne's
turnover inside his own twenty two allowed Connolly, Gatehouse and McKelvey to put Smith into space. He side stepped a first defender, swerved around a second and sped clear from half way to score under the posts. Connolly's conversion gave the Elks the lead for the first tme at 12 - 14.

As the half wore on the weight advantage began to count as Rasen tightened their game and kept the ball amongst the forwards. McKelvey, Hicks and Rudkin worked tirelessly to stem the tide with McKelvey producing heroic deeds at the base of a retreating scrum. The task was made harder when hooker Moore was yellow carded reducing the Elks to fourteen men. Rasen took immediate advantage when they put the penalty into the corner, secured the line out and mauled over for Cole to claim the try and restore their lead to 17 - 14.

The second half produced just one score when Grint slotted a penalty twenty minutes in to stretch Rasen's lead 20 - 14. The Elks rang the changes with Chenoweth replacing Vernon, Ayres replacing Gatehouse and debutant Hodgkinson, another product of the Junior section, replacing Clarke. The contrasting styles held sway with Rasen keeping the ball
tight and the Elks moving the ball wide at every opportunity. Smith, Haigh and Gatehouse, before his departure, all made inroads but either support was lacking or the ball was turned over in the tackle.

A second yellow card, this time for Ayres, meant the visitors were forced to play the last ten mintues with fourteen men and despite throwing caution to the wind and moving every piece of ball acquired the home side hung on to claim the victory.

Man of the match Tom McKelvey.