National League Two South Bury St Edmunds 44 Broadstreet 15 Three late tries flattered a strangely below par Bury St Edmunds as they laboured to victory over an enterprising Broadstreet, writes Simon Lord.
The league standings suggested a comfortable Christmas win for Bury but it did not pan out like that as the visitors from Coventry pushed them for 60 minutes before finally the Wolpack cut loose.
An early Hodgson try was quickly cancelled out by a converted Beales try and a Fraser Honey penalty to put Bury seemingly in control.
However the visitors had not read the script. Full-back Murray, a threat all game long, danced through some wayward tackles that culminated in Joe Lane rounding off a fine try to level the scores.
Honey, back from injury in the 10 shirt, had a fine game for Bury both with boot, where he was an immaculate eight from eight but also with ball in hand. He went on to score 24 points in the match.
Bury’s scrum was solid all day and a secure set piece 35 metres out saw the ball spread wide for Chris Lord to break through. Honey ran round in support and he collected the long flat pass to score in the corner. With the conversion successful and a penalty not long later, it pushed the hosts out to a 20–10 lead at the break.
But a succession of penalties conceded resulted in replacement front row Dawes being driven over from close range shortly after the restart to bring it back to 20–15.
Although Honey added another penalty, there was still only eight points in it with the final 10 minutes to play.
Finally Bury seemed to wake from their slumber and turn on the style. Affleck’s 50 metre sprint down the touchline generated the first real crowd roar of the day and moments later Bixby was on hand to finish of a series of plays that stretched Broadstreet both one way and then the next before the hooker dived over.
With the result now assured, finally Bury looked the potent force they can be and ran in two tries in the dying moments. It was cruel on Broadstreet as their efforts deserved better but Chris Snelling cut back on the angle for the bonus point and then Duplenne won the race to Honey’s deft kick through, both following good work by Craig Wilson, who had a storming game on his debut.
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