Elks cruise to victory with 7 tries at Mansfield

Mansfield kicked off and began the brighter of the two sides with again Elks poor discipline pinning them inside their own half, Elks suffered an early blow as Matt McGuire was forced off through injury, replaced by Dan Bell.

Elks were looking sluggish and Mansfield took full advantage as they moved the ball left, the forwards carried on the move and they scored in the left corner after 21 mins, extras missed to make it 5-0.

This fired up the Elks who responded quickly through Chris Tipton, he crashed through two tackles before offloading to Kartar Soar who showed great speed to run in and score, Jono Falls added the extras making it 5-7 after 23 mins.

Mansfield worked their way into the Elks 22 but were turned over, Jake Lamb made 60 metres before passing to Hugh Smith to score after 29 mins, Falls again with the extras making it 5-14.

Mansfield visibly tired towards the end of the half and Elks ran in 3 further tries through Tom Pottinger, Dan Bell and Falls, Falls kept up his 100% strike rate and converted all 3 tries to make it 5-35 at half time.

Mansfield started the half well and were helped by the Elks as another line out offence resulted in a yellow card for Soar on 45 mins, they took full advantage of the extra man and worked through 3 phases before scoring in the left corner, extras missed making it 10-35 after 47 mins.

With the game already won the Elks levels dropped in the second half and mistakes crept in, they did however create several more chances and following a good attack by Isaac Taylor the ball was recycled several times before Taylor popped up again to run in and score on 59 mins, Falls again with the extras making it 10-42.

Elks were now trying to run from anywhere and the backs s fed the ball down the line, they created an overlap and Jake Heath scored the seventh and final try, Falls completed his great day with the boot adding the extras to give him seven from seven and the final score at 10-49.

It was job well done for the Elks against a Mansfield side who are facing the real possibility of relegation, some good performances on the day but none better than Jono Falls who again stepped in well at scrum half and had a 100% strike rate with the boot, so he gets this week’s Man of the Match.

A special mention for Jacob Heath who was this week selected for the England Counties U20 squad, a fantastic achievement for all his hard work, the club wish you all the best as you progress in your rugby career.

Next week sees the final League action with a home fixture against Market Rasen, kick off 3.00pm