National League 2 South Old Elthamians 47 Bury 12 Bury’s recent run of good form came to an abrupt halt in south east London!
Bury had a bright start and for the first 15 minutes monopolised both territory and possession.
However little errors meant Bury had nothing to show for their efforts and the Old Boys ruthlessly punished them with two tries in the space of three minutes.
Bury had lots of huff and puff but could not unpick a fantastic defence that remained organised, disciplined and determined to keep the visitors out. Time and again Bury were pushed 60 metres back after a promising move broke down and from one such kick Lord was caught in possession and forced to concede a penalty.
From the resulting line out OE’s went through numerous phases, staying patient, until finally left wing Roberts squeezed over in the corner. The Old Boys punished Bury with two more scores before the break, both the result of turning the ball over, kicking for territory and then turning the screw on the visitors’ defence.
Livewire scrum half Caxton deservedly got on the scoreboard, scampering round the blindside after a forward drive, before then taking a quick tap penalty and picking out Roberts with a precise cross field kick. 33-0 to the hosts at the break.
Bury put in a brave second half performance to share the spoils two tries apiece. Sam Sterling and Gillespie were in the vanguard of Bury attacks that finally started to look a little more composed.
It took almost 15 minutes of determined Bury efforts to finally create the space for Gillespie to power over from close range. O’Grady’s fine conversion gave a bit of credibility to the scoreboard.
Sterling saw yellow for a blatant body check to prevent what would in all likelihood have been a score for Elts. However the home side were not going to let Bury off and from the resulting penalty kick to the corner, Prop Rudland was rumbled over.
Ehren Painter carried well to earn Bury a valuable attacking platform on the 22 metre line. However the line out was over thrown and then the speed and aggression of the home defence turned the ball over. One miss tackle, one quick break, fabulous hands in the middle resulted in Golledge racing home for the try of the day.
Bury kept fighting, despite being 47-7 down, and Chris Snelling grabbed a late consolation try.
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