Bury St. Edmunds IV 32 - H&D II 59

H&D’s 2nd XV travelled up the A14 to Bury St. Edmunds last Saturday, fielding a fine blend of aged marvels and youthful whippersnappers. The tempo of the game was set during the first five minutes, this was high tempo for some, but a hearty encounter for all.

H&D’s Ryan Boyne swapped his wrestling lycra for the H&D jersey this weekend and it was Boyne who opened the scoring for H&D. Boyne crossed the line after Magic Mike Cowley made inroads into the opposition’s twenty-two, stretching the home sides defence. As the defence stretched more than the front five’s jerseys, the visitors opted for the cross field kick, Boyne was alert and held his position out on the wing to receive the kick and run in un-touched from ten yards out. Captain Craig Wilson converting the kick to take the score to 0-7.

Bury St. Edmunds quickly levelled the score from a well worked scrum set piece. As the H&D back row of Cowley and Pitham pondered over what post-game anti-aging beauty products they’d be using , the home side’s back row were working hard off the scrum to make space for their scrum half to score under the posts. As Cowley and Pitham were still deciding on Nivea or Olay the home side converted the kick. 7-7

Sean Mills Jnr then put H&D back in front. The fly half running in from 30 yards out, after the ball was turned over in the tackle. The fly half cruised over the line, trying not to hit top speed and resultantly lose any more of those precious hair follicles. 7-12.

Mark Bow finally decided to stop rolling around on the floor with the fine gentlemen of Bury St. Edmunds and score a try for himself. The Welsh Wizard was rewarded after some great support play, receiving the ball from Magic Mike Cowley. Wilson again converting, taking his side into half time with a 7-19 lead.

After the break the visitors let the game slip away and after 55 minutes Bury St. Edmunds had scored three converted second half tries to Harwich’s one un-converted try, taking the score to 28 -24.

With twenty minutes left on the clock, substitute Justin Webb made a strong break up the middle of the pitch, the second row then made a glorious off-load to the supporting Ryan Boyne. Boyne tagged in and took the ball on a few meters to then release Lewis Kerley to run in under the posts. Whilst Wilson converted the try, Boyne was laying on top of Kerley, as Jamal tapped his hand on the turf to the count of . . .1 . . . .2 . . . .3. With the score now at 28-31 and Boyne strutting his stuff in his new WWE title belt, H&D were back on track.

It was H&D’s Josh White who then took the game away from Bury St. Edmunds. The Bury St. Edmunds full back knocked on a high ‘up and under’ and White’s support play was rewarded when the flanker pounced on the loose ball. White decided to run with the ball instead of ‘kicking it up’, running in from the half way line. Wilson converted from in front of the posts, the kicking lessons from Spanner were finally paying off. 28-38

H&D secured the win during the final twenty minutes with further tries from Sam Jewell and Shaun Fox. As the clock hit 78 minutes Annalise shouted from the touch line ‘LEWIS!!! You can score another one now honey’, the hard hitting back then jumped up and down like an excited puppy. Kerley then darted off after the ball, picked it up, bounced off 59 tackles to then dive over the line. As the Man of the Match Lewis Kerley looked over to the touch line, Annalise simply nodded her head and said ‘that’s my boy’!!

Final score Bury St Edmunds IV 32 - Harwich & Dovercourt II 59

H&D host two home fixtures this weekend, with the first team back in action against Mersea, whilst the second team host Halstead Templars.

This match report was not based on real events and was mostly made up, Nigel’s stats below are fairly accurate though;

Lineout:
Lineout Won (Own): 6
Lineout Won (Opposition): 1
Lineout Lost (Own): 1
Lineout Lost (Opposition): 5

Scrum: Scrum Won (Own): 9
Scrum Won (Opposition): 1
Scrum Lost (Own):
Scrum Lost (Opposition): 5

Knock-ons: 3
Forward Passes:
Turnovers Won: 7
Turnovers Against: 2
Penalty For:
Penalty Against: 1