Elks aggressive defence marches on

Ilkeston kicked off into a mighty wind blowing down the length of the pitch which left the ball hanging long enough for Paul Shoebridge to get his first touch of the game, who knocked it back to Jake Smithurst to set up the breakdown. The Elks attempted to get into the game straight away, spinning the ball wide to Tom Pottinger but a knock on halted the play. The referee had decided he was not going to allow the scrum to complete, penalising Ilkeston as soon as it formed. The tap and go earned Paviors another penalty from the resultant breakdown and we quickly found ourselves defending a catch and drive from a Paviors’ lineout on our 5 meter line.

With just two minutes on the clock, Chris Titpon left the field for 10 minutes having been adjudged to collapse the maul. The Elks pack defending well as Paviors opted for the scrum, but the 7 man pack managed to turn the ball over and good work from Steve Mahoney at the base of the scrum allowed us to box kick out of danger.

The strong defence, which was to be present all afternoon forced a Paviors knock on and the Elks now had a scrum put in on the half way. The weakened scrum meant Paviors were able to turn the Elks pack over and this was to be the patter for the next 10 minutes as we were unable get out of our half. Our aggressive defence forced a number of turnovers, but we were unable to retain the possession.

As Titpon rejoined the play with no score registered, shortly afterwards it was Paviors who drew first blood with a messy line out in the corner, scrambled over the line but with the conversion missed, the score now 5-0 with 17 minutes gone.
Ilkeston’s reply was swift though with a great lineout take from Jake Smithurst, spun to Greg Taylor who yet again proved too much for the Paviors’ defence and broke through, running in under the post on 19 minutes. Jonathan Falls converting the extras for Ilkeston to take the lead 7-5.

A number of injuries thwarted the Elks side all game and shortly afterwards, Matt McGuire left the field with a nose injury, replaced by Issac Taylor who pushed Tom Pottinger into the pack for a reshuffle.

G Taylor made another clean break and the ball was fed to Jacob heath who took play up to the Paviors’ 22m where Ilkeston were awarded a penalty. A good supply of lineout ball was provided all afternoon despite the blustery conditions but no further score was to be registered by either side in this half. Ilkeston had started to make regular line breaks through the backs but were unable to finish things off.

Alex Ayres left the field with an ankle injury on 26 minutes, replaced by Jack Partington in the first of his two shifts this afternoon, followed by the returning McGuire just before half time.

With 7 minutes gone in the second half, a rare mistake from the Ilkeston defence allowed Paviors through, but the missed conversion saw them take the lead 10-7. Their lead was short lived however as Falls brought the scores level 3 minutes later with a penalty kick, 10-10.

With the now sustained pressure from Ilkeston, we saw a repeat of G Taylor’s first try as he ghosted past the Paviors’ defence to run in under the post, Falls converting on 32 minutes to bring the lead 10-17.

Mistakes again stemmed the Ilkeston attacks however and we repeatedly found that instead of being in a strong attacking position in the Paviors 22m, a series of failed Ilkeston lineouts found us defending a Paviors’ lineout in our 22m. The Elks pack managed to steal the lineout and again the ball was spun wide and several breakdowns later, Soar was high tackled just short of the Paviors’ 10 meter line with 4 minutes remaining. Falls sized up the wind at his back and duly sent the ball sailing through the uprights to put a chink of daylight between the two teams, Ilkeston leading 10-20. The final say was Paviors’ though as we gave away a penalty on the 22m to allow them a losing bonus point, bring the final score to 13-20.

The Elks defence undoubtedly won the game at burnt stump and Grey Taylor proved again to be a thorn in Paviors side, so he gets the Man of the Match award.

Spalding visit the Stute this Saturday, 2:15pm kick off.