Hull Ionians 6 Old Elthamians 26

These may be tough times for Elthamians off the field, but on it their patched up side continues to do the club proud.

After giving league leaders Richmond an almighty fright two weeks ago, OEs followed it up by overcoming a very different but equally problematic challenge at a freezing Brantingham Park to secure a deserved bonus point victory over a resolute Hull Ionians side.

They may be struggling at the foot of the National One table, but Hull were clearly up for the job in hand, especially in light of Elthamians’ only previous visit there back in the 2017/18 season when they went down 27-11 with arguably their worst performance since winning promotion to Nat One.

OEs’ task was not helped either by an enforced late change to the starting line-up before kick-off when flanker Harry Ledger’s back problem flared up in the pre-match warm-up, handing Ryan Munnelly his first league start for the club.

But as they have demonstrated in recent weeks, Elthamians, featuring seven players under the age of 21 in their matchday squad with three making their league debuts, simply rolled up their collective sleeves and knuckled down to the job in hand.

It wasn’t pretty at times and they struggled for fluidity out wide, but with the platform of a dominant front five from which to work, Elthamians were ultimately good value for their bonus point victory.

The forwards were excellent it has to be said. They dominated the set-piece, monopolised possession and territory for long periods of this hard fought contest and whenever Hull threatened to claw their way back into the game, they invariably produced a crucial play or turnover,

Captain Hamish Barton garnered the plaudits for a brace of tries and was impressive throughout, and Perry Parker and Cam Holenstein both had big games up front. But they were all eclipsed by the performance of Elliott Quinton.

The young No.8 has become a figurehead of the Elthamians revival in recent weeks and here again he was simply outstanding, the man of the match by a country mile. Playing with a confidence and sense of freedom, Quinton had one of those afternoons when he seemed to attract the ball like a magnet. A marauding presence around the park and a constant nause around the fringes of ruck and maul, he forced turnovers in the tackle, consistently drove OEs forward with the ball in hand and by the final whistle Hull must have been thoroughly sick of the sight of him.

Indeed, the home side could have been forgiven for letting out a collective sigh of relief when Quinton was twice forced to leave the field - for a damaged shoulder, and then with what looked to be a game-ending ankle injury in the second half - only to return, like the Black Knight in Monty Python and The Holy Grail (’Tis but a scratch’) moments later, patched up and strapped up, to cause more havoc at the breakdown.

Quinton’s performance epitomised the collective effort and commitment of Elthamians’ reshuffled side. Having already lost Ledger in the warm-up, they suffered another blow early on when second row Dylan Flashman was forced to leave the field with concussion to be replaced by another first team debutant, Alex McLean. The St Mary's Academy flanker slotted seamlessly into the back row, adding energy and pace around the park.

With Elthamians now fielding four back row players in the pack with Munnelly shunted into second row, they made all the early running, penning Hull in their own half and stretching the defence on a number of occasions without ever seriously threatening the try-line. The deadlock was finally broken on 25 minutes after Joel Medcraft’s linebreak had won a penalty which Hilton Gibbons kicked to the corner. From the resulting lineout, the OEs pack drove to the line allowing Barton to crash over from close range.

Despite their territorial advantage, however, OEs were unable to turn possession into more points and they were made to pay for their profligacy when Hull were awarded a penalty after a rare incursion into the OEs 22 a minute from the interval, fly-half Max Titchener making no mistake in front of the posts.

Titchener added a second penalty shortly after the restart to cut Elthamians’ lead to just one point and at the stage it looked as though momentum could swing the way of the home side.

However, the OEs pack intervened once again, winning a scrum against the head which allowed Marc Koteczky to push a clever kick through to the corner. It prompted an impressive multi-phase passage of play from the OEs forwards who kept the ball tight edging close and closer to the line before Munnelly was able to twist out of a tackle and dive over for his debut first team try.

The industrious Munnelly, who did an impressive job of disrupting Hull ball at the front of the lineout, was involved in OEs’ third try on 71 minutes. Latching on to a loose ball at the side of a ruck in his own half, he released Ciaran McGann down the touchline. The centre made 25 metres before off-loading inside him to Ollie Claxton who fed the scoring pass to Cam Hancock on his shoulder, the ever alert Kent Under-20s winger racing away to touch down for his first league try for the club.

Leading 21-6 in the closing moments, there was still time for late drama. Another Hull turnover released Elthamians’ third debutant, flying former Colts winger Jack Smith who scorched away down the touchline for what looked certain to be a fourth try. However, he was cut down short of the try line by a high tackle from Ed Brown which earned the Hull No.8 a yellow card.

Gibbons kicked the penalty to the corner and with the final play of the game, Barton was driven over from the resulting lineout to put the seal on an impressive second half performance.

SCORERS
Hull Ionians
Penalties: Titchener 39,43

Old Elthamians:
Tries: Barton 25 80 Munnelly 51 Hancock 71
Cons: Gibbons 26 52 72

Old Elthamians: Medcraft, Hotston, McGann, Koteczky, Hancock, Gibbons, Claxton; Holenstein, Fordham, Hay, Flashman, Parker, Munnelly, Barton, Quinton: Subs: Boon, Bratton, McLean, Jackson, Smith.

Referee: Ben Rayner