As the season heads towards it’s conclusion Bury St. Edmunds headed to the Ipswich festival in high spirits. The sun even decided to come out for the occasion.
They were placed in Pool B for the festival.
The first match was up against Colchester B. The Bury boys started strongly and soon put their stamp all over the game, by the end of the first half Max Derbyshire had a hat trick with Joel Clifford and Thomas Peacock also adding to the tries.
In the second half Derbyshire opened with another 2 tries followed up by tries from Hempo, Sam McLoughlin and George Barker. They finished the game with 10 tries and none conceded.
There was a gap before the following games which gave all the teams a chance to further warm up.
Bury then went into their next match against Woodbridge, with both teams having won their first matches the winner would go through to the final.
Bury came in strong and fast with Hempo and Clifford both back on the score board. After a strong run from the boys and great passing taken at speed it was time for Peacock to return to the scoreboard, Derbyshire soon adding another.
There was no let up after the half time break, Derbyshire adding another 2, Paddy Mountford 2 and Hempo his second of the game. With no tries given the final score was 9-0.
Bury went through to the final against Colchester A. Just 2 weeks earlier they had met at the Ipswich pitch and this time the Colchester team scored the only try and held Bury off a draw.
It was going to be a tough game as both teams were very strong and fought hard. Colchester A proving to be a strong opponent. There were a number of strong tackles and great rucks in a game that saw most of the play in Bury’s favour with Colchester in defence. The final score of 0-0 showing how closely matched the teams were.
The decision was going to come down to a golden try. Both teams gave their all, with a lot of rucks and line outs going in Bury’s favour the game moved into the second half with tense spectators wondering what would happen next.
In what would be the final line out Bury won the ball and it clearly got passed down the line before arriving in Thomas Peacock’s hands. As he made a dash for the line he was tackled and threw himself forward, thrusting his arms and the ball out. The relief was palpable for Bury as the golden try was confirmed! Bury had won the Ipswich festival.
Bury St. Edmunds Under 11s move on to the Land Rover cup for Leicester Tigers next Sunday as the season, possibly, comes to an end.