Many former greats of Elks rugby were on hand to present the playing jumpers to the team members prior to the match, their support was much appreciated and I am sure they were not disappointed with the efforts of the current team.

The omen was set when Captain Sam Baker lost the toss and Robb elected to run with the wind. The Elks struggled to get out of their own half and were seemingly consistently on the wrong side of the referee, despite being a ‘mate’ of captain Baker’s.

The Robb side demonstrated some great technical skills and through an early penalty secured a lineout close to the Elks line, which they won comfortably and drove a well constructed maul over the line for first points, duly converted Robb had an early 7 nil lead.

The Elks hit back quickly, the charging Stuart ‘Hallys mate’ McClintock made some good inroads and the quick ball enabled Tonkin to deliver a beautiful ball to Simon Haron on the left wing. Once again Haron showed blistering speed and excellent winger’s technique to avoid his opposite and evade two cover defenders to cross for a great try. The story hasn’t changed and the conversion was unsuccessful, 7-5.

Unfortunately injury to halfback Richard Salmon saw him leave the field midway through the first half, so Haron went to halfback and Tristan Walmsley came on the wing. Ashley Whitehead lost his temper and was sent from the field for 10 minutes to cool off - Robb took full advantage and scored twice in that period a real let down for the Elks. The deficit of 19 to 5 was too much for the Elks to recover.

The lineout struggled as Robb stole a lot of Elks ball and quick taps began to be the better option for the Elks rather than field position. The wind in the second half helped the Elks gain the advantage and the team stormed home.

Nathan Purvis put the side within reach through an amazing solo try, charging through a messy lineout he got the bounce of the ball and streaked towards the corner, his dazzling footwork saw him evade the winger and cover to score right in the corner, score 19 to 10. Perhaps because of the occasion, or that we didn’t expect to convert tries anymore no one expected such a stunning kick by McClintock, try converted and Elks with a chance at 19 -12 and 5 to go.