Away Day Win, lifts Tigers to 5th Place

 🏆 Counties 1 Eastern Counties

📆 22nd February 2025

Ely Tigers 🆚 Cantabs

Ely Tigers traveled to Sedley Taylor Road, Cambridge, for a rearranged fixture against Cantabs. This game provided more favorable conditions than the previous week's match against Colchester IIs. Due to the nature of the rearranged game, Tigers head coach Des Lloyd made changes to the starting lineup, giving Coby Guerrero his debut as a replacement. 

In the opening attack, Tigers crossed the try line in the corner with John Surbey, marking his third consecutive game with a score. Matt McCarthy was unable to complete the conversion. The lead increased when Alfie Allan scored under the posts, and McCarthy successfully added the conversion, bringing the score to 12-0.

Cantabs gradually found their way back into the game, nearly crossing the try line before being stopped by a last-ditch tackle. Following this warning, Cantabs won a lineout from the clearance and returned to the attack, eventually breaching the Tigers' defence to score. With the successful conversion, they reduced the Tigers' lead.

After a spell of Cantabs pressure, Ely broke away to score their third try of the afternoon as Luke Turner scored under the posts, McCarthy adding the conversion, as the game entered first-half injury time, Ely scored again, again in the corner, after Jim Storey picked up the ball, falling short of the try line, McCarthy picks up the ball to score, he also added the conversion, Elys penalty count started to climb putting the defence back line under pressure, leading to Cantabs second try of the game, however, the conversion was missed as Ely lead at the break 26-12

Early in the second half, Ely went over with Mitch Kennett touching down, with McCarthy adding the conversion, next on the score sheet was Rhys Williams Goldman crossing over the try line, however, the home side charged down the conversion kick from McCarthy. Surbey was next to provide the chance for Turner to score his second try of the afternoon, as McCarthy was able to add the conversion points as Tigers edged towards 50 points. 

Cantabs were next to score their third try of the afternoon, under the posts, when again the penalty count went against Ely, giving the home side a chance, they also added the conversion, and the totting up of penalties saw Ely down to 14 as Issac Oldwood received his marching orders for 10 minutes, however a few minutes into Ely being down a man, Cantabs also found themselves a man shorts as the received a yellow card.

With both sides down a man, Tigers went over again as Williams Goldman crossed over the line in the corner, however, the conversion was missed, into the game came Coby Guerrero who soon made a mark on the game by adding the final try of the afternoon, much to the delight of his teammates, as Ely ran out 55-19 winners, 

Mud, hail, snow, sleet, rain and more mud as Tigers slide to victory

 🏆 Counties 1 Eastern Counties

📆 15th February 2025

🆚 Colchester 11s

On Saturday, the Ely Tigers hosted Colchester IIs as they aimed to build on their victory from the previous week. The warm-up was marked by challenging weather conditions, including rain, hail, sleet, and snow, which persisted throughout the game and made play difficult.

At 25 minutes, Ely had their first scoring opportunity with a penalty kick taken by Rhys Williams Goldman, resulting in a 3-0 lead. Ten minutes later, at 35 minutes, Ely capitalized on the advantage with Williams Goldman delivering a cross-field kick that was successfully received by Matt McCarthy, who then scored. The conversion was added, bringing the score to 10-0.

Ely's next offensive move was led by the impressive speed of Luke Turner, allowing John Surbey to score in the corner. However, the conversion attempt fell short, leaving the score at 15-0. During first-half injury time, Colchester managed to push Ely back to their line, scoring a try and successfully converting it, adjusting the score to 15-7, at half time the game reminded me of travelling to Swaffham during the 2015/16 season when you couldn't see who was who as the shirts were all a nice shade of mud !

In the second half, Ely scored first with McCarthy crossing the try line once again, making the score 20-7. The back line of Ely demonstrated resilience as the visitors camped out on the Ely try line for 13 minutes but were unable to penetrate their defence. A restart by Ely enabled them to escape their own half and add another 5 points when Joel Scott Paul crossed the try line to score.

From the restart, Colchester initiated another attack and scored a try in the corner, although the conversion was missed. Deep into added time, Colchester continued to press forward, but the Tigers maintained a firm defence under challenging conditions. The final score was 25-12 in favor of Ely, moving the Tigers up to 7th place in the league, the team will look to make it three wins in a row as they travel to bottom of the league side, Cantabs.

Tigers take the win

 

🏆 Counties 1 Eastern Counties

📆 8th February 2025

🆚 Ipswich

Ely Tigers faced Ipswich in a rearranged fixture aiming to move away from the bottom two positions in the league. Ely started strongly, pushing Ipswich back on their try line, with Matt French scoring the opening try for Ely, giving them an early lead. After the game settled, with 25 minutes on the clock, Tigers had the chance to increase their lead when the official awarded a penalty. Tigers opted to kick for points, and although Rhys Williams Goldman’s kick hit the crossbar and bounced back into play, Joel Scott Paul was quick to react and maintain pressure. Eventually, Lee Thompson crossed the line to score, with Williams Goldman adding the conversion. Williams Goldman also added a try to his tally by finding a gap in the Ipswich back line to score, with the conversion added, leading to a halftime score of 19-0 in favour of Tigers.

The second half saw a slow start from Ely as Ipswich applied pressure. However, despite this pressure, it was the Tigers who scored again by moving the ball across the pitch from a line-out on the right-hand side, eventually allowing John Surbey to score in the corner. Ely found themselves under pressure again during the half and were pinned back in their own half. With their penalty count rising, they were reduced to 14 men as Matt French received a yellow card from the official, and during this time, Ipswich scored a converted try. An injury to Lee Thompson required Ely to reshuffle, and they remained under pressure, unable to enter Ipswich's half. A cross-field kick allowed Ipswich to score their second try of the game, making the score 24-12. As the game neared its end, Ipswich went down to 14 men after a red card, releasing some pressure. With 5 minutes remaining, Ely’s Matt French ended the game by touching the ball down after Ely pushed the Ipswich scrum back across their own try line, with Williams Goldman adding the conversion, resulting in a 31-12 win for Tigers.

The win moves Ely up to 8th place, while Ipswich dropped to 4th, 

Cambridgeshire Under 20s lift the Siverware

Cambridgeshire RFU  Under 20s v Suffolk RFU Under 20s

Shelford RFU

Wednesday 5th February 2025

The final fixture for 2024/25 Eastern Counties Tri-Counties Cup took place as Cambridgeshire played host to their counterparts from Suffolk RFU at Shelford Rugby Club, a win for the host county would see the cup being lifted, along side the Counties Under 18s squad..

The squad was made up of players from Newmarket, Oundle, Huntingdon, St Ives, Shelford, Cantabs, Ely, Cambridge and St Neots, guided by Head Coach, Glen Remnant. Having watched the Suffolk side play Norfolk the week before this would have been a good side, if both counties put out their strongest 15, Suffolk had good numbers at training the days leading up to the game but they only travelled to the game with 13 players, with the help of Cambridgeshire they started with 15.

Cambridgeshire started the game, with what looked to a be a awful kick, however the winger had timed his run well to gather the ball to score the opening try of the game, with the conversion added the home County lead 7-0, this was quickly followed up by another converted try, inside the opening 15 minutes, Suffolk went down to 14, but on 35 minutes Suffolk added a converted try as score board read 21-7, with half time looming Cambridgeshire scored a further try to make it 26-7. 

As the players got ready, the officials clearly were enjoying the warmth of the changing rooms on this cold night, once the half got under way it turned out to be a scrappy start to the half, with both sides giving away penalties, and with stoppages for injury's, it was Cambridgesire that scored the first try of the half to extent their lead to 33-7, on the hour Cambs score again, but were unable  to convert the conversion as the ball hit the upright,  A well placed nudged kick from Ely's Tom Gunbie saw Cambs score again, as the winger chased to ball down to score, again the conversion hit the post, but this time fell the right side, with the game coming to an close, Suffolk scored a try in the corner, with the conversion added the final score finished 45-14 to Cambridgeshire

 

 

 

Tigers go down to defeat to league leaders

 🏆 Counties 1 Eastern Counties

📆 1st February 2025

🆚 Norwich

A chance to visit a new ground, as Ely Tigers travelled to league leaders Norwich, who remain unbeaten all season, following last week's defeat away to Saffron Walden. The head coach had to make changes to the match day squad due to unavailability. With just 6 minutes on the clock, the home side took the lead with a try and successful conversion. Ely soon had an opportunity to score with a penalty award, but Tom Gunbie's kick was wide of the posts.

As both sides settled into the game, another penalty was awarded to Ely at 24 minutes. Rhys Williams Goldman kicked successfully to add 3 points to the scoreboard. At 29 minutes, Williams Goldman had another chance to cut the home side's lead to one point and succeeded by scoring another 3 points.

However, Norwich responded quickly after the restart, scoring a try as Ely failed to make effective tackles. With the conversion added, Norwich led 14-6 at halftime. The second half began with an interception in the Norwich half, leading to another try for the home team with a successful conversion. Missed tackles by Ely allowed Norwich to score again in the corner. The conversion was missed, resulting in a final score of 27-6 in favor of Norwich. This loss drops Ely Tigers to 10th place in the league, with a rearranged home game against Ipswich coming up.