Elks end league season on a high

Both teams were missing key players and it showed as both coaches will be disappointed with some of the first up tackles, many being too high.

Elks made the brighter start and Jono Falls landed an early penalty to lead 0-3, Elks scrum forced a mistake from Newark and Alex Ayres kicked ahead from the loose ball, he won the race to touch down and Fall added the extras to give the Elks an early 0-10 lead after 5 mins.

Elks were soon on the attack with Greg Taylor running hard, Newark were penalised but Falls missed the shot at goal on 9 mins.

Newark’s discipline was again causing them issues and Falls took advantage and slotted another penalty on on18mins to stretch the lead to 0-13.

Newark gradually got into the game with decent possession and territory, they drove from a line out but were penalised allowing Elks to clear, Nick Gray took a good catch and Isaac Taylor came into the attack only being stopped when forced into touch.

Both sides were looking to run with the ball but penalties from both teams halted any real penetration, Newark finally got a breakthrough when the centre broke through and off loaded well for them to score their first try after 36mins, conversion added to make it 7-13.

Elks last attack of the half was knocked on and brought half time 7-13 Isaac Taylor was replaced by Jake Heath.

Elks started the second half as well as the first, Jake Lamb kicked long but was hit late by the Newark 8 who was penalised, Elks kicked to touch and Gray took another catch, the ball was moved left and Rueben Elley broke clear with storming run to score under the posts, extras by Falls to make it 7-20.

Elks were again on the attack but a stray pass and a penalty allowed Newark possession, from another Elks penalty the Newark 9 took a quick tap and impressive handling from the back line saw them score in the left corner, conversion missed 12-20. Marc Moore was replaced by Gordon Pringle

Elks kicked off and Newark caught clean, a skirmish broke out and the Newark No8 was singled out for a cheap shot and rightly yellow carded.

Elks took full advantage of the extra man and following another Gray line out catch the ball was moved into midfield, a gap was spotted on the blind by Ayres and he fed Elley who raced through for his second try. Unconverted making it 12-25 after 56mins.

Elks were penalised soon after the re-start and they slotted the kick to make it 15-25.

From the next line out Gray took well and Elks cleared deep, the ball was returned with a deep kick by Newark and Elks failed to deal with the kick, it bounced up into the hands of the Newark attacker and he ran through to score on 62 mins, conversion missed making it 20-25

Elks were straight back on the attack and scored the try of the match when Ayres, G Taylor, Heath, Partington were all involved and Partington threw a nice miss-pass to Falls who scored in the left corner, conversion missed making it 20-30 after 70mins.

Hugh Smith replaced Tom Pottinger. Newark still refused to lie down and attacked the Elks, G Taylor was yellow carded for an apparent shoulder charge and they applied the pressure, Newark took advantage of the man extra and scored after 75mins, extras added to make it 27-30.

They had a great chance to steal the game late on when their centre broke through, a great tackle by Falls forced a knock on and full time was called. Final score 27-30

Elks always seemed to have enough but could never stretch clear as Newark kept fighting back, some great running rugby on show but the stand out performance came from Reuben Elley who gave Newark all sorts of problems with his direct running. League games are over for now but the Elks have the NLD final to look forward to against Scunthorpe on April 26th at Matlock 15.30 kick off

Come along and support the Elks on their first ever appearance in the NLD final.

This Saturday 19th April sees Sam Clough's Mighty Elks Vets take on Matlock Vets at the Stute in the Derbyshire Vets semi finals. Come along and offer them a support - 3pm Kick off.