ELKS OPEN SEASON WITH WIN

Man of the Match – Adam Corcoran

With the new changing room facility being officially opened by the Mayor of Erewash before the game the Elks kicked off their new season against the side from Corby who they last played some eight years previously. Following last season’s league winning exploits the first game presented the Elks with opposition who has also progressed from the level below, albeit via the play-offs.

The game was preceded by a minutes silence in memory of Jack Thompson, a Club and Three Counties stalwart, who passed away in the close season.

The lovely sunny morning had deteriorated into an overcast, blustery day which threatened, but failed to deliver, even more rain. Kicking down the slope the Elks were soon into their stride gaining an early penalty after four minute when the visitors were penalised for handling the ruck. Jono Falls’ attempt drifted wide on the breeze but three minutes later he atoned with a successful kick from the twenty two after he had been the victim of a high tackle to start the scoring of the new season. Eight minutes later the Elks were again pressing the Stewart & Lloyds defence and forcing a knock on in front of goal some thirty metres out. Falls again converted to double the lead to 6-0.

The next five minutes saw the visitors apply one of their few periods of pressure but sterling work in the several lineouts from Paul Shoebridge and Bryn Vernon helped keep them at bay. With the Elks scrum also going well the first try came after twenty minutes. The front row of Mat McGuire, Jason Falls and Craig Charlton got a nudge on their opponents and the Elks scrum started to march them backwards and he inevitable happened when Skipper Rich Burne touched down from No.8. Jono Falls converted to move the score on to 13-0 with the large crowd beginning to expect good things. They were not to be disappointed and five minutes later the Elks scored their second try of the afternoon’s tally. From a lineout take by Shoebridge, just inside the Stewart & Lloyds half, debutant Adam Corcoran blasted forward before switching to centre Dan Taylor. He broke through the midfield defence gaining thirty metres before offloading in the tackle to winger Dan Mahoney. He also demonstrated the art of good offloading to the rampaging figure of flanker Steve Quinn who forced his way over from short range. With Jono Falls missing the conversion from wide out the score had moved on to 18-0

With the home side playing the game at a pace the visitors were clearly finding difficult to cope with it was only desperate defence and occasional poor handling that were keeping the Elks from moving further in front. Any attempt by the visitors to enter the Elks’ territory was duly rebuffed, invariably by the howitzer like boot of fly-half JJ Connolly who kept them pegged deep inside their own half. The process of moving the scoreboard on was duly achieved after twenty five minutes when another Shoebridge lineout take allowed scrum-half Andrew Chapman to pop the ball to centre Scott Rudkin on a delightful line. He jinked between attempted tackles before touching down in a fine solo effort that Jono Falls converted to stretch the lead to 25-0. Deep into added time at the end of the half a series of scrums had to be rest due the insistence of the visiting front row to come up under the pressure which eventually told when Burne grabbed his second try from the back of a rampant Elks pack superbly marshalled by Chapman. With Jono Falls missing the conversion the halftime score stood at 30-0 with the visitors not managing to enter the home sides twenty two.

The break saw hooker Jason Falls being replaced by Steve Mahoney and he proceeded to watch his younger brother turn the game with a tally of fourteen points in the first seven minutes of the second half. With the Elks demonstrating excellent handling skills and the ability to deny the opposition any ball centres Rudkin and Taylor, ably supported by second debutant, winger Ben Gatehouse, started to cut lines which left the visitors grasping at shadows. The first of the two tries saw Jono Falls touch down under the posts and convert. Four minutes later he repeated the process, albeit taking the wide outside route. The move started deep in the Elks twenty two, in which the visitors had at least breached by the judicious use of their kicking game down the slope and with the wind. Winger Dan Mahoney started the move and a swift interchange of passing with Vernon and Falls saw the fullback outstrip the defence, touch down and convert with the score moving on to 44-0 after forty seven minutes.

The Elks hopes of keeping a clean sheet were dashed when the visitors forced a successful penalty following a handling offence and racked up their only points of the afternoon by fly-half Slater. Shoebridge was replaced by Adam Stoker as the Elks clearly felt they had the measure of their opponents and ensured all the replacements got a run out. The situation was compounded for the Corby side when tighthead prop Flemming was shown the yellow card for a rucking offence.

Shortly afterwards Jason Falls re-entered the fray after Charlton was injured with the versatile front row man moved into tighthead. With the game out of their grasp the visitors decided to embark on a series of bad tempered exchanges which interrupted the flow of the game. However, on sixty five minutes the Elks produced another searing attack when Dan Mahoney snaffled a loose ball and fed Rudkin. A series of switch passes, stunning offloads and sheer pace Gatehouse grab his first try for the Elks with Jono Falls converting to give the home side a 51-3 advantage. The try prompted the final replacement of the day when Simon Bennett replaced No.8 Burne.

The game lost it’s way a little in the final ten minutes before the Stewart & Lloyds’ scrum coughed up the ball for scrum-half Chapman to pounce and feed centre Taylor. Breaking several tackles he fed the ball inside for winger Dan Mahoney outstrip the defence and touch down between the posts with fly-half Connolly converting via a drop kick to leave the final score 58-3.