A reoccurrence of Marc Moore’s calf injury during in the warm up meant he couldn’t take part on a bright January day, with the ground heavy underfoot.

The home side got the game underway and won an early penalty, which they kicked to the corner but the Elks stole through Quinn to allow Ilkeston to clear the early pressure up to halfway. This was to be the theme all afternoon for Loughborough whose lineout just didn’t seem to function under immense pressure from a dominant Ilkeston pack. Early Loughborough pressure saw Ilkeston’s defence stray offside giving away an early penalty in front of the posts which was missed.

This kick started the Elks into the game and the first score of the match came on the 10 minute mark with a well drilled catch and drive from an Elks line out, 5m from the home side try line. Matt McGuire coming up last with the ball, superbly converted by Joel Haig from wide out to make it 0-7

Next, an Ilkeston scrum in the same place saw the Elks punch it up in the centre and feed the back row going the same way with Steve Quinn going over on the 18 minute mark - the Haig conversion brought the score line to 0-14.

Then, two minutes later Quinn fielded the Loughborough restart and fed left to Alex Ayres, then great hands to Greg Taylor, Dan Mahoney and Lewis Taylor to finish of a fine display of open running rugby despite the boggy conditions. Another superb conversion from Haig brought the score to 21 unanswered points with 20 minutes gone on the clock.

Another dominant Ilkeston lineout produced quality off the top ball from Quinn, thanks to Si Hallam’s consistently accurate throwing in. Forwards punched it up in the middle a couple of times before Matt Watkins fed Greg Taylor then Haig who snipped around the ruck to dive over on 25 minutes, adding to his own score with another conversion to make the score line now 0-28.

Half time saw coach Nigel Hall bring on the substitutes with Tom Pottinger replacing Mahoney, Josh Meakin moved up from lock to front row where Si Hallam was given a rest and Dean Chapman moving to Hooker. This brought Jack Wilkinson into the fray.

It took Ilkeston 8 minutes to get the scoreboard moving again from a scrum where Dan Taylor exploded into the Loughborough defence, knocking his tackler to the floor before eventually being brought down, the ball being spun wide from the breakdown to see Jonathan Falls go over in the corner. Haig was up to the challenge to bring the score line up to 0-35.

Following a rare Loughborough lineout win and with a series of rucks, they brought play up to the half way. Great defence from the Elks saw a turn over ball and superb distribution from Jake Lamb saw two wide passes out to Lewis Taylor to claim his second score of the day, unconverted by Haig to bring the score line to 0-40 on 55 minutes.

A blood injury to McGuire’s mouth saw his game end and Hallam returned to the field.

Four minutes later and another good Lineout win from Jake Smithurst at 2, saw the ball moved left then right for Falls to claim his 2nd try in the corner, ruthlessly converted by Haig to bring the score up to 0-47.

A spirited Loughborough team never gave in and eventually got some reward for their efforts from a series of pick and drives close to the Elks line, who eventually ran out of tacklers while Watkins received treatment for an injured hand. With the try converted, the score now 7-47 on 66 minutes.

Loughborough’s celebrations where short lived however as two minutes later, they gathered the restart and attempted to spin the ball wide which was intercepted by Falls to run it into the corner for a missed conversion leaving the score 7-52.

Not to be outdone, Loughborough responded again 4 minutes later with a quick tap penalty and another series of pick and drives, going over and the extras added, made the score 14-52 with 8 minutes remaining.

Ilkeston had the last say from a Loughborough scrum with possession turned over to see great hands from Dan Taylor feeding Dan Mahoney and then Ayres to score in the corner with the conversion missed bringing the final whistle and score line of 14-57.

Overall a pretty good display against a struggling Loughborough side, early trepidation was quickly put to bed and the 9 try festival of good solid rugby was on display. As you might expect with such a scoreline, there were many contenders for Man of the Match, with the likes of Haig looking sharp, Quinn’s leadership display and Watkins great support play all staking a claim. But a hat trick of tries cannot be ignored and so it is that this week’s Man of the Match goes to Jonathan Falls.

Link to Derby Telegraph article.

Link to Ilkeston Advertiser report.

Link to Derby Telegraph report.

Link to Nottingham Post report.

Next fixture sees Towcestrians travel to the Stute for a 2:15pm Kickoff, on Saturday 12th January.