Elks complete Derby double

Derby began much the brighter and with the wind and slope in their favour were soon camped in the Elks 22, after a series of forward drives the Derby scrum half spotted a gap in the post defence and darted through to score after 6 mins, extras missed making it 0-5

Derby were playing with much more urgency and seemed quicker at the breakdown, following an Elks infringement Derby extended their lead with a penalty on 9 mins making it 0-8

Elks started to have more possession but knock on’s were halting progress, Derby were next to concede a penalty and Alex Ayres tapped quickly and made good ground, he was held up short of the line and Derby gained the scrum and cleared to half way.

Derby came again down the slope and great work by Greg Taylor turned ball over and relieved the pressure, the respite was short lived as Derby came again with another attack, Elks were penalised and gave away a kickable penalty which was duly converted to stretch the lead to 0-11 after 26 mins.

From the kick off Derby caught the ball and made 20 metres running through some sloppy tackles, they eventually forced Derby into touch and cleared from the line out, the kick was counter attacked by the full back and he took play into the Elks 22, the back line were caught off side and Derby took a quick tap penalty catching the Elks asleep and scored in the corner, extras missed but the lead was now 0-16 after 32 mins.

Elks had the final say in the first half when putting together their best phase of play late in the half, Greg Taylor, Jake Lamb & Jono Falls all linked well together to release Tom Pottinger on the right wing, he beat the last defender and scored in the corner on 38 mins, extras missed making it 5-16 at half time.

Simon Hallam & Richard Hutchinson came on for Dan Bell and Dan Rollins respectively as Elks now had the wind and slope and were looking to make inroads into the Derby lead.

Elks made the worst possible start knocking on from the kick off, Derby consolidated from the mistake and drove forward, they recycled and carried on the driving maul over the Elks line to score on 44 mins, extras missed but the lead was now 5-21 with a mountain to climb for the Elks.

Elks responded well to Derby try as Greg Taylor made a 30 metre break, he fed Falls who was well tackled short of the line, Elks recovered the ball and at the next breakdown were awarded a scrum, Derby were penalised at the scrum and Lamb took a quick tap, he fed G Taylor who burst through to score on 52 mins, extras missed making it 10-21.

Jack Partington was replaced by Joel Haigh and Haigh dropped in at 9 with Lamb going to 10. The momentum seemed to swing in the Elks favour as Haigh, Ayres and G Taylor all carried well taking play into the Derby 22, Derby managed to clear but the loose kick was returned by G Taylor who fed Haigh, slick passing put Ayres through a gap and he ran in unopposed, this time Falls added the extras to make it 17-21 after 68 mins.

Elks came straight back on the attack and worked into the Derby 22, Derby turned the ball over but knocked on giving Elks the scrum, the ball was moved left through Haigh who fed Lamb to crash through and score under the posts, Falls with the extras to give Elks the lead for the first time at 24-21 after 75 mins.

There was still time for Derby to strike back and they looked like they would as they ran through in the Elks 22, superb work by Jacob Heath and G Taylor stole the ball and cleared the danger, Derby had one more attack from a line out but the ball was well stolen by Tom Hicks and Lamb cleared bringing the final whistle much to delight of most of the large crowd.

Both sides deserve credit for a very entertaining spectacle in which the result could have gone either way in the final minutes, Elks changes in the second half seemed to bring about an improved performance as the Elks came back again from a 16 point deficit to gain a bonus point win.

Several impressive performances on display but the nod for Man of the Match was rightly given to Jake Lamb.

Next week sees an away trip to Huntingdon where the Elks have not had the happiest of times, hopefully this victory will boost confidence as the NLD semi final approaches.