LOCK Matt Ellwood’s stunning 50-yard try capped an impressive afternoon for St Neots as they took Vauxhall Motors apart in Midlands Four East South on Saturday.

Rugby

St Neots 84-3 Vauxhall Motors

LOCK Matt Ellwood’s stunning 50-yard try capped an impressive afternoon for St Neots as they took Vauxhall Motors apart in Midlands Four East South on Saturday.

Ellwood’s first half solo effort, when he broke away on the half way line and outpaced the Vauxhall defence to score under the posts, was one of 14 home tries.

The win was orchestrated by scrum-half Will Hall and fly-half Adam Porter and followed on from last weekend’s 50-0 mauling of basement boys Thornley.

Skipper Marcus Wale, who sat out the weekend game to avoid risking a slight injury, said afterwards: “We had been working on off-loading in training the last couple of weeks and, although last week was good, this week was amazing and everything we’ve been working on just came together.”

Kicking off into the wind, the Neots forwards immediately asserted their dominance and it wasn’t long before winger Paul Wakeford scored in the corner to get the ball rolling.

A penalty handed Vauxhall their only points of the afternoon but, after 10 minutes, prop Kurt Murray powered his way over the line from 30 metres out, scoring his first try for the club.

That was quickly followed by centre Martyn Allen’s first try of the day after a surging run by Phill Fernie, Neil Rook and Ollie Emanuel in a dominant back row.

Ellwood’s rampage extended the lead, with Adam Hanley helping himself to a couple of tries to extend Neots’ lead to 32-3 at half time.

Neots then really turned the screw in the second half, with man of the match Rhod Howcroft crashing over for his first Saints try, before Allen added his second of the day under the posts.

Further tries from Adam Peel (2), a fine solo effort from Sam Peel, Allen, Hanley and Hall capped a superb day at the office for St Neots, with Porter nailing six conversions.

With the team now having scored 134 points and conceded just three in their last two games, captain Wale was in no doubt what has brought about the turnaround in fortunes.

“We’ve had a full squad attending training, everyone is getting there early and committing, which is allowing us to gel together again,” he said.

“Having two of your tight five scoring from 30 metres out or more shows that we’ve got a team who can compete in this league now.

“It’s all leading up to the game at league leaders Biggleswade on February 5, that’s our target as a team.”

This weekend Neots, currently sixth, visit ninth-placed Wellingborough OG who are just below Vauxhall Motors in the table.