Following the previous weeks defeat against Northampton, St Ives Roosters, produced a much improved performance at Bury Titans. In a game which saw the lead switch sides on numerous occasions the Roosters were unlucky not to win the game and with a little more composure would have done so.
Despite the defeat Roosters Coach Ian Hill was pleased with the performance “We haven’t performed well this season but we had a good team meeting before the game and this led to better display all round. There’s still along way to go to reach our usual high standard but we’ve created the platform to get there this week”.
Despite being hampered by a lack of availability the Roosters dominated the opening of the game with some fine controlled Rugby. Even so they fell behind to a Bury try but hit back after 13 minutes when they gained good field position which allowed Jamie Noble to cross near the touchline. The lack of a recognised goal kicker would come back to haunt the St Ives side as they only converted one try throughout the game.
The Roosters continued to work hard and after being awarded a penalty strong drives from Josh Dear and David Sykes allowed the ball to be moved wide where Michael Drake fed Chris Sykes to score in the corner.
Bury hit back straight away as the Roosters struggled in the heat and the loss of three players being knocked unconscious due to some heavy Titans tackling. They conceded two tries in the last 10 minutes of the half, one of which was converted, to trail 14 – 8.
On the stroke of half time the Roosters were awarded a penalty in the own half. Stand in prop forward Paul Ashbridge tapped the ball to himself and smashed through Titans defensive line to race the length of the field to make the half time score 14 – 12 to the Titans.
The second half opened with some strong tackling as both sides defence dominated play. With the sides evenly matched Bury scored a try under the posts after Roosters David Sykes was yellow carded for holding down at the play the ball.
The Roosters regrouped at took the game to the Titans. The ball was moved up the field and another barnstorming run from Ashbridge broke the Titans line to reduce their lead to two points. They then followed up to take the lead for the first time in the game as an excellent move saw the ball moved wide along the line to Ben Pinion to dive full length to score in the corner.
With time running out the Roosters frantically defended on their own line but a succession of penalties allowed the Titans to regain the lead after crossing close to the posts. The pressure got to their kicker who missed the conversion.
The last 5 minutes of play saw the Roosters camped on the Bury line. Both Ashbridge and Noble were held up on the line. Noble also fed Adam Peel to score but the try was controversially disallowed for a forward pass. Bury hung to secure the win and take the two points.
The Roosters next game is a home fixture against Colchester Romans on Saturday 6th June with a 2.30pm kick off. The game will be played at St Ives RFC, Somersham Road.