Ely 49, Thetford 5AFTER a good start to the new rugby season with a win against Cantabrigians at home, the second league encounter for Thetford first XV proved somewhat disappointing.

Ely 49, Thetford 5

AFTER a good start to the new rugby season with a win against Cantabrigians at home, the second league encounter for Thetford first XV proved somewhat disappointing.

From the start Thetford were taught the benefit of running hard, straight lines in the midfield.

Ely boasted pace throughout the backs and utilised this to great effective, recording a comfortable victory.

The first quarter saw some good early exchanges and the strong Ely midfield found it hard to penetrate the Thetford defence.

Ely made the first scoring breakthrough when yet another strong midfield run led to a converted try.

Thetford had some of their own scoring opportunities, but found it difficult to beat the strong opposition back line.

Thus was the case for much of the game until a rare sustained period of possession led to some crisp passing within the Thetford backs to notch up a score of

their own.

This, however, proved to be the only points scored by the visiting team, allowing Ely to celebrate as comfortable winners.

Thetford coach Ian Reynolds stated: "It would seem hard to come away with positives after such a game, however I was pleased with the forwards' set- pieces. Both line-out and scrums were good and there was some good work from certain individuals but in the main we failed to play as a team and our team discipline was poor also."

Thetford's man of the match was Martin Sands.

The next league game against Stowmarket First XV will be at the team's home ground at Two Mile Bottom on Saturday (ko 3pm).