LONDON 1 NORTH: Letchworth 0 Bury St Edmunds 36

A STUNNING second half display underlined Bury’s league leader status over their promotion rivals.

The opening 20 minutes saw attack and counter attack, punch and counter punch occur with both defences coming out on top.

But Bury’s frustration at not being able to turn early pressure into points began to tell and they became increasingly indisciplined.

In the space of seven minutes Alex Hughes had three penalty attempts to put his side ahead but missed all three.

With the last play of the half, Bury opened the scoring.

Skipper Matt Eddison peeled off a scrum on half way making good ground. Will Martin then worked his way through to ten metres from the line.

The forwards took the ball up the short side thus creating a huge overlap back on the open allowing Phil Gouldie the simple chance to touch down. Martin converted.

Immediately from the kick off, Bury applied the pressure, recycling the ball well to take the ball deep into Letchworth territory.

The home side’s lineout had become increasingly fragile from an aerial assault from messrs Farmer, Waters and this time Eddison, who stole the ball and was driven on by his forward cohorts. When the ball came back, Eggars scored a converted try.

Will Martin then chipped over the on rushing defence. His kick was so precise that a Letchworth full-back could only slice his kick sideways, allowing Martin to touch down in the corner.

The touchline conversion made it 21-0.

Another forward turn over gave Martin the space to launch a splendid kick into the Home 22. The front row of Bell, Birrell and Maclachlan destroyed their opponents at a resulting scrum and Page took the penalty to wriggle in by the posts.

When the ball came back from a ruck, the Bury players were queuing up for the try. Gouldie was the recipient and bagged his second try of the day. Once again Martin converted.