Bury St Edmunds 7 Dings Crusaders 17

The Crusaders from Bristol deservedly took the spoils as they comfortably thwarted a Bury side that had plenty of possession but little cutting edge, writes Simon Lord.

For the second home game running Bury had lots of huff and puff but could not break down an organised defence.

On a sunny day and a dry track all the signs were for a high scoring game, and tries for both sides in the opening 18 minutes suggested it might be the case.

However the game never hit the heights, instead it became a turgid midfield battle which suited the visitors.

Bury ought to have taken the lead on 10 minutes having earned a penalty to take them into the Dings 22 a misfiring line out and over-elaboration saw the chance go begging.

To their credit, Bury did not let Dings fully escape and pressure in the visitors 22 allowed Kohler to easily intercept and stroll in after 13 minutes. The lead however was short lived. A fumble at the restart gave Dings an attacking scrum, Full Back Jordan Grattan ran a great line to get behind the defence and when the ball was sent left, winger Josh Trinham could not miss.

An unnecessary scuffle resulted in both sides losing a player to the sin bin but it still didn’t stir the Bury players into life and their continual failure to find touch or distance with several clearance kicks was finally punished. Dings running the ball back, earned a penalty, kicked to the corner and organised the maul well to send back rower Knight over, expertly converted by Bolster from the touchline.

The closing moments summed up Bury’s day. Camped in the visiting 22 they continually tried to go wide off first phase and score when a more pragmatic approach was all that was required. It didn’t work and it meant it was 14 – 7 to the visitors at Oranges.

The second half continued in similar vein. Bury with lots of possession but attacks invariably all too lateral. Meanwhile Dings managed the game far better, slowing the game down when needs be, using forwards Canulli and Capon to drive effectively and Bolster kicking intelligently to turn the home side round time and time again.

Only a forward pass prevented Knight adding to his tally and knock on by Bolster saw another chance go begging. Cam Ritchie did manage one arcing run that Leng almost converted but he was penalised for a double movement. That however was as good as it got for Bury.

Bolster’s late penalty was the only meaningful act of the half sending the large crowd home frustrated and disappointed.