Elks Rue Basic Mistakes

The Elks travelled to 3rd in the league Bugbrooke who had surprised a few with their good start to the season, they again proved their position in the league was no fluke as they out played the Elks tactically on a very heavy pitch winning 20-10.

Bugbrooke started with the slope advantage and made their intentions clear immediately by kicking into the right hand corner and putting pressure on the Elks line out, this was to prove a fruitful tactic as the Elks struggled in the conditions to execute the line out well, this resulted in Bugbrooke having several scrums in the Elks 22 and many long periods of pressure and possession.

Bugbrooke scored after 8 mins from a line out catch and drive which was unconverted, Elks responded well and had their first visit into the Bugbrooke 22, they forced a penalty when Bugbrooke were caught offside and Jack Partington converted the kick to make it 5-3 after 14 mins.

Bugbrooke again used the kicking game well and after an Elks knock on they scored from the ensuing scrum, this time converted to make it 12-3 after 23 mins.

Alex Ayres was then replaced by Chris Tipton after taking a nasty blow to the face after 30 mins. It was still mostly Bugbrooke as they again attacked from a line out drive, this time it was halted and great defensive work from Greg Taylor turned the ball over. Following several Elks penalties the referee lost patience and yellow carded Tipton after 33 mins.

Bugbrooke were soon back on the attack and Elks were penalized at the breakdown, the penalty was kicked to stretch the lead to 15-3 after 35 mins.

Elks had the last attack of the half but knocked on bringing half time with the score 15-3.

Elks now had the slope second half and were soon on the attack forcing mistakes from Bugbrooke, however most of the Elks attacks were too far out and they did not have possession in the right areas, basic mistakes were also halting any real progress. When the Elks finally got some decent possession in the Bugbrooke 22 it was their turn to concede too many penalties and they had a player yellow carded on 52 mins.

Elks failed to take advantage of the extra man and Bugbrooke’s defence was solid, Elks were trying hard but the quality was not there when needed.

Bugbrooke launched a counter attack from a long kick and the ball was fed to the right winger, he managed to get through 3 tackles and score after 75 mins although the Elks will be disappointed with the tackles which looked too high. The try was converted to make it 20-3 with time running out.

Elks did have the last say in the game when Greg Taylor burst through in midfield and eventually broke clear to score under the posts on 78 mins, converted by Partington to make the final score 20-10.

On the day Bugbrooke deserved their victory and they certainly had the upper hand in tactical decision making, they choose to kick most possession away and rely on Elks mistakes, this certainly worked in the heavy conditions.

The Elks didn’t lack in effort with the back row all working hard but Man of the Match goes to Matthew Watkins who stepped up to play loose head prop when the team were short of front row players, he certainly did himself justice and didn’t look out of place, although I’m sure he was sore Sunday morning!

Next week sees the visit of Coalville to the Stute and the Elks will be hoping to complete another double after winning away earlier in the season.
Kick Off 2.15