Bury slipped to their first defeat in three months in a high quality encounter that saw the league leaders gain revenge for their only defeat of the season, at the Haberden, back in September.

Staines 25 Bury 10

Bury slipped to their first defeat in three months in a high quality encounter that saw the league leaders gain revenge for their only defeat of the season, at the Haberden, back in September.

The scoreline did not reflect the balance of the encounter, a converted try in the ninth minute of injury time finally sealing the victory for the home team.

Bury started strongly and monopolised possession and territory for the first 15 minutes. Marius Van Den Berg missed two kickable penalties, however the second chance rebounded off the post, Staines failed to clear it and the ball was moved wide to Dwain Brown who broke two tackles to force his way over, Van Den Berg failed to add the extra points.

In the 20th minute a refereeing error saw a blatant block missed in midfield on the Bury defence , and the Staines centre was able to cross for an uncoverted try. This try seemed to ignite the home team, and they started to put some quality moves together. Their multiple phases of wide rugby were an indication of why they are clear favourites for promotion. Staines then took the lead with a penalty conceded for a high tackle by the Bury defence and went into the break with a slender 8-5 lead.

The second half saw Bury start brightly and dominate territorially and with the lion's share of possession through the rest of the match, but it was Staines who seemed to score almost every time they got into the Bury half. Stuart Turner had a defensive kick charged down, Staines recycled the ball and scored out wide to extend their lead to 13-5. They further stretched their lead when their mobile second row went over in the corner, despite protestations by the Bury team that he was in touch when he scored.

Bury then bounced back, and for the last 20 minutes mounted a fierce assault on the Staines line, but great defence from the home team, allied to some poor decision making, saw Bury struggle to score. They finally broke through in the 77th minute, wheeling a scrum and using a clever back row move to put Ashley Parkes over in the corner. Van Den Berg failed with the conversion attempt, a crucial miss that would have brought Bury back within one score of the home team.

The final score in the 89th minute was a harsh one for Bury to take, and the scoreline certainly did not reflect the closeness of the game, a high quality, fast, entertaining match between the league's two form teams. Bury now look forward to a Suffolk Cup semi-final at old rivals Sudbury.