Elks Rock League Leaders

The game began at a frantic pace with both sides trying to move the ball wide to find any available space to attack. Elks playing with the slope were first to gain territory when the Lions were offside at a ruck, the kick to touch was well caught but soon after knocked on.

Lions then launched their own attack and kicked ahead, this was well fielded by Greg Taylor but the Lions chasers soon forced him into touch. The Elks then had to make a forced change when Marc Moore left the field with a calf injury; he was replaced by Ryan Mills on 8 mins.

The Lions continued to attack in midfield but time and time again were well tackled with Alex Ayers in particular producing some superb tackles.

The Lions had the first chance at points when the Elks were penalised for not rolling away, the kick for goal was pushed wide on 10mins, the 22 drop out was well returned by the Lions and some unusually slack tackling allowed the first try on 11mins which was unconverted leaving the score 0-5.

Elks came back strong and worked their way into the Lions 22, a promising opportunity was lost when an Elks line out was dropped allowing the Lions to clear, it was the Lions who threatened next when they took a quick tap penalty and forced their way deep into the Elks half, but some solid defence kept them at bay.

The Elks then had a good period of pressure and successive penalties by the Lions allowed the Elks to work their way into the 22, unfortunately silly mistakes were allowing the Lions to clear their lines. This quickly changed when following a poor Lions clearance kick Greg Taylor went on a great counter attack beating two defenders to score in the right hand corner. This was superbly converted from the touchline by the impressive Joel Haigh to put the Elks into a 7-5 lead.

The re-start was not gathered and allowed easy possession back to the Lions, who worked their way into Elks territory where the Elks conceded a penalty for offside. This was again missed by the Lions fly half who thankfully for the Elks was having an off day with the boot. From the 22 drop out the Elks were quick on the chase and forced the Lions into conceding a penalty. This was kicked to touch, caught well by Steven Fowkes and driven towards the line. The maul looked like it was slowing down but extra drive from the backs gave the maul that final push over with Adam Corcoran emerging with the ball. This was again well converted by Haigh to make it 14-5 on 33mins.

The re-start was again knocked on by the Elks, but the resulting scrum was well contested by the pack forcing the Lions into a mistake and winning a scrum of their own, launched another attack and the Lions were penalised at the breakdown for going off their feet but the kick for goal was missed by Haigh on 36mins.

The next Elks attack was halted by a knock on and the Lions came back strong, a good move on the right was stopped by a great tackle from Lewis Taylor who was unfortunately injured in the tackle and forced off to be replaced by Tom Pottinger on the stroke of half time with the score at 14-5.

The Elks kicked off the second half and the Lions came out the blocks quickly playing with the slope, they attacked down the blind side, recycled well and attacked midfield, which was stopped in its tracks with another great tackle from Ayers. The Elks were then caught offside and another kick for goal was missed on 43mins.

The Elks then had several attacks which were stopped with knock on`s. Another great counter attack from Jonathan Falls and Greg Taylor took play deep into the Lions 22. A speculative drop goal was missed but the referee had been playing advantage for offside. The kick at goal was turned down for the kick to touch but unfortunately the line out was knocked on and the chance gone. At this point, both sides then made several mistakes as each team tried too hard to gain the upper hand and some speculative passes went to ground.

Another poor clearance kick from the Lions was well returned by Falls, Greg Taylor and Steve Quinn finally putting Jake Lamb in at the right hand corner to score on 57mins. This was unconverted to make it 19-5.

From the kick off Elks won the ball back and quickly moved it right, with some great handling by Greg Taylor & Dan Taylor gave Falls some space outside and he showed electric pace to round the defence and score in the right hand corner on 58mins, with the conversion missed, the score was now 24-5.

This appeared to deflate the visitors and the Elks kept coming strong up the slope. On the few occasions the Lions attacked, the impressive Ayers was not to be passed and this forced the Lions into kicking and allowed Falls & Greg Taylor to launch counter attacks. One of these led to the next try when Falls, Dan Taylor & Greg Taylor linked together superbly to eventually allow Falls to again show his pace and score in the corner on 70mins – with conversion missed the score was now 29-5.

The kick off was again knocked on by the Elks and the Lions attacked only to be stopped by a great tackle from Dan Taylor, the Elks quickly went on the attack only for it to be halted by an illegal shoulder charge from the Lions No5. He was rightly sin binned and had been close before with some foul play.

The Elks mixed up the attacks and went blind with Corcoran & Haigh, with Haigh eventually forced into touch. The Lions line out was stolen by Quinn and carried deep into the 22. Apart from Falls on the half way line the whole team joined the maul and eventually crashed over with Mills coming out with the ball on 75mins, converted by Haigh to make it 36-5.

Credit to the Lions who knowing they were beaten still produced some great rugby in the last 5 minutes, after the Elks gave away a penalty a quick tap was taken and good handling through the backs led to a try which was converted on 79mins 36-12. This was to be the final score of a hugely entertaining game.

Some very impressive performances were put in with Alex Ayers and Greg Taylor outstanding, they would have been nominated MOTM on probably any other day but even they were outshone by Jono Falls who wins the man of the match. His counter attacking and general play was a pleasure to watch, so he rightly claims that honour this week.

After 2 defeats the whole squad and coaches bounced back with a superb display against a talented side.

Link to Derby Telegraph article

Link to Ilkeston Advertiser report.

Link to Nottingham Post report.

Next game Paviors away 24th Nov 2.15pm KO