Old Elthamians produced one of their best performances of the season so far to record an emphatic five-try, 34-7 victory over Caldy at College Meadow on Saturday.
It was OEs’ biggest winning margin of the campaign and they were thoroughly good value for the bonus point victory which extended their unbeaten run in National One to seven games.
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It was the visitors who made the brighter start and took an early lead with a penalty try after only nine minutes. A kick ahead down the blindside saw Caldy wing Nick Royle win the race to the loose ball and as he gathered and attempted to off-load inside him, Elthamians full-back Charlie Dockery knocked the ball forward trying to intercept the pass.
Referee Dan Parrot had no hesitation in running between the posts for the penalty try and showed the unfortunate Dockery a yellow card for good measure.
It was to be the last time that Caldy would trouble the scoreboard, however, as Elthamians took a firm stranglehold on proceedings for the remainder of this entertaining encounter.
Although the visitors enjoyed their share of possession and enjoyed an advantage at scrum time, they never looked like breaching suffocating Elthamians defence with the back row trio of Ben King, Hamish Barton and Harry Ledger outstanding at the breakdown.
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Once OEs opened their account on 13 minutes when the impressive Alex Brown collected Tom White’s cross-field kick and fed James Golledge for a well constructed try, they never looked back.
Dockery scored his third try in as many games when he dived over from close range following good work from Golledge and Brown to give the home side a 12-7 half-time lead.
Elthamians simply continued where they left off after the interval, quickly adding a third try from replacement George Messum after a bullocking run up the middle from No.8 Ben King.
When the industrious Brown battered his way over in the left-hand corner on 52 minutes following slick interplay from Dockery and Kieran Moffat, Elthamians had the bonus point and were in complete control, leading 24-7.
Ollie Claxton took over kicking duties from the injured White and he added a 66th minute penalty before replacement scrum-half Rhys Morgan put the seal on a clinical Elthamians performance when he darted over from a driven lineout on the edge of the Caldy 22.
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