Hints at Bury bright future
Rugby sevensBURY St Edmunds claimed the top prize at the Suffolk Sevens event after two teams from the club impressed during the competition.The club's senior side took the title, while an Under-21s side also performed well in the early stages of the tournament.
Rugby sevens
BURY St Edmunds claimed the top prize at the Suffolk Sevens event after two teams from the club impressed during the competition.
The club's senior side took the title, while an Under-21s side also performed well in the early stages of the tournament.
The Under-21s side played with great flair and promise, beating Wattisham and Stowmarket 2nds in the early rounds.
They lost a closely-contested match to Hadleigh, meaning they finished second in their group and faced Stowmarket's first team in the next phase.
Bury showed they were not daunted at playing these experienced sevens players and allied strong running at the opposition to disciplined defence. Although they lost 30-19, they made Stowmarket work hard for the victory.
Most Read
- 1 'Emotions are high' - McGreal on ugly scenes following Charlton loss
- 2 Suffolk bin collection changes this Christmas: All you need to know
- 3 First case of Omicron confirmed in Suffolk with 16 more suspected
- 4 Stu says: Five observations following Town's 2-0 loss at Charlton
- 5 Ex-Celtic boss Lennon linked with Town job
- 6 Fallen trees block Suffolk roads as Storm Barra batters region
- 7 A14 closed in both directions near Ipswich after four-vehicle crash
- 8 Body of man found in Saxmundham
- 9 Person dies in Ipswich house fire
- 10 'I apologise for the misunderstanding' - Nsiala issues statement
The squad of Matt Delaney, Luke Findlay, Stuart Turner, Chris Hart, Will Martin, Fabio Ogunfowora, Ben Geatches, Jack Hallatt and Rob Petherick showed there is a great future in rugby at Bury St Edmunds.
Special mention has go to Fabio Ogunfowora for playing with such confidence despite being only just 17, Ben Geatches who showed a return to form after missing last season, and Will Martin, who shone throughout the competition and took the captain's armband after injury to Findlay.
In the other half of the draw, the senior side won an end-to-end tussle with Ipswich in their opening game and then lost to Stowmarket.
Bury's next opponents were a spirited Harwich side, who shocked Bury into life by scoring first.
Bury regrouped after the try and took the game to Harwich, eventually overwhelming the side from Essex.
Bury player Chancy Mulama seemed to suddenly start to enjoy himself and the crowd saw why sevens was his game.
In the semi-finals home side Hadleigh were Bury's opposition. Hadleigh got off to a blazing start and were soon two tries to the good. Bury showed great patience and slowly wore down the opposition, and came away with a victory from a hotly-contested game.
In the final Bury met Stowmarket, who had defeated them in the group stages and the Bury Under-21 team in the knockout phase and must have been favourites to walk away with the trophy.
Bury, led by Matt Price, refused to be overawed by this and in the blink of an eye they were three tries to nil up.
In this game it was the turn of the youngsters to impress, after Brad James and Hennie van der Bank had run past the opposition in earlier games,
Billy Robinson and Pete Clarke put on a performance of attacking rugby which promises great things in the future. Both Robinson and Clarke scored two tries, with Mulama scoring the other leaving the final score Bury 29 Stowmarket 14.
