Woodbridge v Ely

Eastern Counties 1 - Ely 5 Woodbridge Warriors 8

Woodbridge v Ely

WOODBRIDGE Warriors had the lion’s share of territory in the opening quarter at Ely Tigers.

The visitors played a steady and considered strategy of keeping 
the ball in the pack and exploiting gaps when they presented themselves.

With the wind against them in the first half, the Warriors resisted the temptation to kick and, despite appearing the smaller side, turned over most of the set-pieces.

This allowed them to defend well when under pressure in the second quarter, winning several phases of play up the centre of the pitch. This forced a charged down clearance kick in the goal area for Bruce to score.

The home team were under pressure again immediately from the restart and a push over try was held up before the half ended with some attacking from Tigers’ Benzie, Scot-Paul and Coopman.

Ely were aggressive in the 
second half, their scrum-half Colson distributing well and making some useful breaks despite his opposite number, Bruce, making life difficult.

Benzie’s touch kicking gave them territory and their hooker very nearly scored from a line out.

The pressure continued on Woodbridge who were forced into some hard tackling.

Eventually Ely’s forwards efforts were rewarded with a quick pass out for their full back to level the scores up.

The Warriors replied with some enthusiasm which cost them a man in the bin and missed penalty attempt by Ely.

Eventually the tables turned and Barton was able to take three points from a penalty in the Tigers’ 22.

Despite continued pressure the home team resisted running attacks from Yorke, Smith and Lloyd countering with some great diagonal lines from Colson and his backs.