Coalville Blown Away

Conditions were challenging to say the least and credit to both sides for trying to play rugby, indeed play was halted after 15 minutes when lightning and stormy conditions threatened player safety.

Play resumed 15 minutes later although the surface was now worse with the recent downpour, Greg Taylor soon had the first try bursting through under the posts, converted by Joel Haigh on 17 minutes 7-0

This was soon followed by a try from Haigh who exploited a gap around the breakdown, he converted his own try to make it 14-0 after 25 minutes.

The Elks scrum was dominant putting huge pressure on the Coalville scrum, they were kicking most of their possession and trying to force mistakes, they had their first visit into the Elks 22 and following several penalties against the Elks Marc Moore was sin-binned on 30 minutes.

Coalville kept things tight in the forwards and following several drives Elks again gave penalties away and Matt McGuire followed Moore into the bin on 34 minutes.

Coalville however did not take advantage of the extra men although they had good possession in the Elks 22, tempers began to flare in the forwards and a stray boot from Tom Holland resulted in a straight red on 36 minutes.

Elks were now down to 12 players but still did not concede any points, in fact they improved their play and following a great run by Reuben Elley, Coalville were penalised in front of the posts which was converted by Haigh to make it 17-0 after 38 minutes.

Coalville were looking a beaten side and Elks showed no mercy as they ran in further tries through Haigh on 39 minutes and G Taylor on 40 minutes, both converted by Haigh to make it 31-0 at half time.

Haigh came off injured during the break, replaced by Marshall. Losing the influential 9 meant another major restructure of the side, but this something the Elks have become accustom to all season. It didn’t stem the flow of points however and Isaac Taylor scored soon after the kick off, converted by Jack Partington on 42 minutes making it 38-0. First King and then Pringle took to the field, giving the lock partnership of Bennett and Smithurst a rest.

The final stages of the games lost all structure as the Elks imposed their dominance onto a beaten Coalville side and in particular Reuben Elley took the opportunity to run riot, giving the now cold and wet crowd something to smile about with a show of all round pace, power and handling ability. Players were scoring at will ,adding a further 29 unanswered points from all areas of the pitch.

Final score 67-0 MoM Reuben Elley

The Elks 1st XV have a rest next week but the 2nd and 3rd XV are in action at home in their respective League games. A number of colts players will be on display in both sides for those keen to see what the future holds.