Ben Wells came in at prop with Matt McGuire moving to the flank, Dan Taylor made his first start of the season and there was a debut start for Nick Gray at lock.

There was a minutes silence before the game to pay our respects to Gordon Harris who sadly passed away last week following a long battle against cancer. He will be sorely missed by all at Ilkeston Rugby Club.

Pavs kicked off with the slope and the Elks fielded the kick off and were straight on the attack, play was moved into the Paviors 22 following a good break by Greg Taylor, the ball was recycled for the forwards to carry on with Nick Gray showing up well. After another quick recycling of the ball it came out to G Taylor to score on the left, conversion missed but a great start for the Elks 5-0 after 4 minutes

Paviors soon had the ball in hand and their forwards worked well with driving mauls and the ball was released to the backs but G Taylor stopped the attack with a great tackle. Unfortunately the referee deemed him to not roll away and Paviors kicked the ensuing penalty 5-3 after 8 minutes.

Paviors were keeping possession well with their forwards and had a series of drives, Elks were again penalised for not rolling away and another penalty was slotted over to make it 5-6 after 18 minutes.

Elks responded quickly with Chris Tipton turning possession over then Gray stealing a line out, the ball was moved left and recycled, then play moved to the right to find Jake Heath in space. He took his chance well as he outsprinted the defence to score on 20 minutes, conversion missed but the lead was back with the Elks at 10-6.

Elks ill-discipline shortly after gave Paviors another shot at goal which was cleanly struck to make it 10-9 after 24 minutes.

Elks came back strong when a kick to touch from Paviors was taken quickly by Lewis Taylor who ran strong and kicked ahead. The chase was good and it isolated the Paviors player where the ball was stolen, and from the following forward drive Tipton broke off and scored after 29 minutes, converted by Jake Lamb to give Elks a healthy lead at 17-9.

Simon Hallam replaced Ben Wells.

The Elks line out was functioning much better with both Tipton and the debutant Gray taking good clean ball. This allowed the backs to show their running skills and keep Paviors on the back foot but no further clear chances were made before half time with Elks leading 17-9.

Elks now had the slope and kicked off for the second half. Paviors retained the ball well and the pack looked strong with driving mauls, however they created little in the back line and together with strong midfield defence from Alex Ayres & G Taylor never really looked like breaking through.

Elks were soon in the opposition 22 again and this time Paviors were penalised in front of the posts, Lamb converted the kick to make it 20-9 on 48 minutes.

Hallam & Tom Holland were replaced by Wells & Tom Pottinger after 49 minutes.

Paviors continued attacking through their forwards but good defence especially from Matt McGuire meant they gained little territory.

Chapman came on for Moore after 54 minutes.

Paviors continued to try and get back in the game but following a great double tackle from Greg & Lewis Taylor the ball was quickly moved right and swift handling put Heath in space for his second try on 57 minutes, conversion by Lamb to make it 27-9.

Elks were looking strong now and quickly scored again following good handling on the left and created an overlap with Lewis Taylor getting the final pass to score after 62 minutes, conversion missed but Elks now had clear daylight at 32-9.

Elks dominated the final quarter of the match but some sloppy passing and knock on`s meant no further scores were registered. Full Time 32-9

Credit goes to all players and coaching staff who following some very tough mid-week training turned in a great performance, Greg, Dan & Lewis Taylor, Chris Tipton all had excellent games but Man of the Match goes to Nick Gray who not only performed well in the line out but provided excellent supported with ball in hand as well.

This result will hopefully kick start the season, next week sees a return to Peterborough RFC where as we know from last seasons result is not an easy place to go.