An under strength St Ives Roosters went down 36 - 0 in a bad tempered game at Greenwich Admirals. Roosters Coach, Ian Hill, was very positive after the game despite the scoreline.
Hill commented " We knew it was going to be a tough game as Greenwich have not been beaten at home for two years. We had a young inexperienced team playing today but they battled well in the face of a lot of intimidation. Greenwich like to bully teams but the young players stood up well to it".
The game was held up for an hour as the referee failed to arrive. Greenwich opened the scoring on 10 minutes with a converted try. Roosters battled back though and forced Greenwich into a number of errors. Just before half time Greenwich increased the lead to make the half time score 12 - 0.
The second half was a niggly affair which was dominated by two brawls. Hill commented "no one likes to see this type of thing happen and it portrays the game in a bad light. What I found quite sad was the fact that the Greenwich substitutes ran onto the field and joined in." The referee decided to take no action after the first brawl. In the meantime Greenwich had scored another two converted tries to increase their lead to 24 - 0.
The second brawl saw two players from each side sin binned. Roosters Eddie Embley receiving his yellow card for dissent. It was a very strange decision as with the Greenwich substitutes once again entering the field to join in the referee should have abandoned the game.
A tiring Roosters conceded to late tries to make the final score 36 - 0.
Roosters are at home on Saturday 29th June to Cambridge Eagles. Kick Off time is 2.30pm with the game played at St Ives RFC, Somersham Road, St Ives.