ELKS RETAIN TOP SPOT

Classic Wines and Spirits Man of the Match - Mat McGuire

As the phrase goes ‘A Grand Day Out’ as the Elks took the kids on a trip to the seaside and did they enjoy themselves! Another batch of youngsters promoted from the impressive Development side, who themselves produced an impressive win against Paviors, made the most of their opportunity and helped the visitors to make the long journey home with a big victory and one step closer to promotion.

Grimsby, on the Lincolnshire coast, has not always been an easy venue and recent seasons have seen some very close encounters. Missing six regulars and a further four long term injured evenly spread between backs and forwards the Elks appeared to have an uphill task but the fluency and ruthless execution made little of the challenge and simply Grimsby away once they made light of their awful start.

Any number of impressive performances caught the eye from the ever present Scott Rudkin, who grabbed a hat trick of tries, JJ Connolly and Mat McGuire to the youngsters Gareth Lewis, with three tries, Josh Newton and Ben Marshall with one each.

There was no hint of the final score as the Elks went 5 – 0 down after what appeared to be ten seconds, surely a contender for the fastest try in history, following a mix-up at the kick off which was worthy of the best Marx Brothers movie. Names have been withheld for the sake of embarrassment! From that point on the home side were rarely in the contest. The Elks worked their way into the Grimsby twenty-two from the restart and stayed there until Dan Mahoney’s break earned them a penalty converted by Connolly.

The visitors took the lead on fifteen minutes when they swept play the length of the park. Rudkin broke from his own twenty-two and the ball was taken on first by Newton and then Lewis to earn a lineout close to the Grimsby line. Adam Stoker’s take was driven close to the line by Steve Quinn to set up a ruck. Andrew Chapman was on hand to deliver a reverse pass to Rudkin who crashed in between the posts with Connolly converting leaving the score 5 – 10 from which the Elks never looked back.

Jason Falls was forced to retire with a partially dislocated shoulder, which required hospital treatment, and the front row was reorganised with Gordon Pringle coming on at loose head and McGuire moving to hooker. If Grimsby expected an edge in this area they were mistaken as the scrum remained rock solid all afternoon.

Lewis grabbed the first of his three tries on twenty four minutes when swift hands from Rudkin, Dan Mahoney and Stoker gave him an outside line. He stepped on the throttle and swerved inside, shrugged off three attempted tackles on his way to the line. He was on the scoreboard two minutes later when, showing greater confidence, with Bryn Locke and Steve Mahoney returning the restart ball feeding Rudkin who was on hand to feed Lewis who stormed in from fully forty metres. For a youngster, who has expressed doubts earlier in the week about his ability to perform at first team level, it was building into an impressive debut.

The home side were forced to live on scraps and often being forced into kicking under pressure to relieve the constant Elks pressure. One such kick was fielded, deep in his own half, by stand in fullback Chris Kemsley who linked with Dan Mahoney and Stoker to earn a penalty close to the home line. Chapman took full advantage of a disorganised defence to take a quick penalty and dive over with Connolly converting.

As half time approached Grimsby gave themselves some hope when a chip and chase earned Clough a try to leave it 10 – 27 at the break. For the first ten minutes of the second half Grimsby stayed in touch but after that the visitors, on average, recorded a try every four minutes. The first of the half started with a Locke lineout take and a Dan Mahoney midfield break. Rudkin looped in support and took the scoring pass.

The flowing rugby continued and the move of the game bought the next try of the game for Locke. From a ruck wide on the right the ball was moved across the park, recycled on several breakdowns and moved through eight pairs of hands for Adrian Montague to provide Locke with the scoring pass. Montague took a knock in the build up and retired to be replaced by youngster Simon Bennett who seamlessly slipped into the No8 position.

The Elks were rampant with backs and forwards interchanging between ruck and maul to keep the ball alive for extended periods. The front row trio of Craig Charlton, Pringle and McGuire revelled in the freedom and popped up in open spaces to create links and overlaps. Locke, Quinn and Stoker won rucks, drove mauls and showed a turn of pace with ball in hand. Not to be outdone Bennett and Steve Mahoney worked to get into support positions and provided Grimsby with questions to which they simply did not have an answer.

Such combinations provided the next try for Newton whose sheer pace took him into the corner. Next came a superb individual effort from player/coach Rudkin. A lightning strike against the head by McGuire provided Rudkin with the chance from quick ball. A show of the ball, dummy and a change of pace earned a try to cap a commanding performance.

With ten minutes remaining Connolly suffered a hand injury and was replaced by Ben Marshall, with his first touch he was put clear within his own half and the Barbadian International screeched clear to claim his first 1st XV try. As the clock wound down Dan Mahoney’s powerful charges in midfield were at last rewarded when he brushed attempted tacklers aside on his way to the line.

The last act of a surprising afternoon was left to Lewis as the team conspired to work a try from deep inside their own half. The whole squad combined with deft hands to put the youngster to claim a hat trick in his league debut.

This week sees the Elks playing away at Market Rasen on Wednesday in the NLD Shield SemiFinal ko 20:00 followed by home league fixture against Nottingham Moderns on Saturday ko 15:00. See you there!