A try in the 76th minute secured the points for Tring in this absorbing Haberden encounter.

The two sides went into the match both comfortably in mid-table, with Bury sitting in fifth and Tring seventh.

However it was evident that Tring had benefited from playing the previous week whilst Bury’s trip to Thurrock had been postponed.

Having not played competitively for three weeks, Bury looked lethargic and off the pace, whilst Tring were clearly fired up and ready for the contest.

A straight forward penalty for Mitchell opened the Tring account after just three minutes.

And for the opening 10 minutes it was all black as Tring pinned Bury back with full back Newton, as he had done at Cow Lane earlier in the season, a thorn in the Bury side.

The stop start nature of the game saw both teams looking nervy and making basic errors but on 34 minutes a passage of quality Bury play put them in the lead.

A fine box kick by Codey Mason was well chased by winger Chris Snelling. His good tackle allowed skipper Matt Edison to effect a turn over and when the ball went wide Casey Stone proved too quick for the cover defence, and it was 5–3 to the home side at half-time.

In the second half Bury went further in front as Tim Mann’s fine kick into the corner forced Tring to hurry a clearance.

The kick went kindly into Bury hands but even then it took a charged down kick to deflect kindly into the arms of full back Stone to allow him an easy run in by the posts for his second try and a 12–3 lead.

Tring responded to the adversity by going back to their strength.

Having forced Bury to concede a penalty at a scrum, they kicked to the corner.

Bury halted the initial thrusts but another Bury penalty allowed Tring the chance to recycle several times before their prop forward Tom French rumbled over out wide. Conversion missed it was now 12–8.

It was all Tring now as they were playing all the rugby, aided and abetted by a series of penalties conceded by Bury.

The Bury defence was valiant but inevitably it could not hold out and Tring worked the ball left for wing Roberts to score in the corner. The conversion was missed again, but the score now stood at 13-12 Tring.

Chastened, Bury hassled and harried Tring into allowing Edison to win a turn-over. New arrival Jesse Smith’s first real action for Bury was to attempt a penalty from wide out on 35 metres, which he nailed to raucous cheers to send Bury 15–13 ahead.

Unfortunately for the home side, the final quarter of the game pretty much belonged to Tring.

As the clock ticked down, it looked like Bury may hold on for an unlikely victory but that was until Tring No 8 Tausosi intervened.

His storming run from 40 metres out broke several would-be tacklers and only a fabulous last-ditch tackle by Stone prevented him scoring.

Tring, however, did not panic.

They recycled the ball quickly through two or three sets of hands before lock Ryde bundled his way over beside the posts. Newton added the extras for a 20–15 lead and, while Bury fought hard in search of a game-winning try, Tring staunchly held firm to take the win.