Ely Tigers played Cantabs on Saturday afternoon at the Cambridge Commodities Park.

They were forced into making changes to the starting XV, however, they welcomed Tom Gunbie who was handed his debut for the senior squad, having played at every level possible at the club.

A bright start for the home side saw an early penalty, but the early chance to post some points on the board went begging.

Shortly after that, the home side's pressure paid off, as the returning Jake Alsop crossed the try line, with Matt McCarthy adding the conversion. The lead was soon doubled as Jim Reed crossed the line, but with a difficult cross field wind there was no conversion.

McCarthy was able to put the ball down with an outstretched arm to score and the conversion was added by McCarthy.

Just before half-time, Lee Thompson sprinting forward to score his first try of the afternoon, with the conversion added and the lead was 31 points.

Opening attack of the second half saw Cantabs on the front foot but they were unable to add to the scoresheet.

Tigers were soon back in charge with Matt French going over for a try, McCarthy was unable to add the conversion.

An Ely line out, deep in the Cantabs half, saw Matt French touchdown the ball for his second try, again the conversion was missed. Thompson then bundled over the line for his hat-trick try, and Tigers cross the 50 point mark.

Cantabs were next on the scoreboard, with possibly the best move of the game, a quickly taken penalty in their own half.

It was a brief rest for Cantabs as Tigers went on the attack, with tries from Jim Reed, who broke from his home half to score under the posts, with the conversion added.

Cantabs went down to 14 after a yellow card, a scrum to Ely, saw the ball out at 8, where Ely played reverse pass, the ball onto the wing were McCarthy set up Dan Piper to score in the corner, conversion missed, as the full time whistle blew as the final score finished with a 65-10 win.