Stowmarket were well up for today’s challenge and were still clearly smarting following their defeat to BSE Blues at the Suffolk 7s tournament. They got off to a great start and were dominating all of the possession and the breakdown. Bury were struggling to hold a line in defence and with no possession to speak of we were hanging on. Only through some last ditch tackling and the conditions affecting the Stowmarket handling were we able to keep them out in the opening exchanges.

Bury were playing off scraps and were failing to run straight allowing Stowmarket to win the collisions and quickly turnover ball. Now pinned back behind our 22 yard line and short of ideas the lads aimlessly kicked the ball away. Stowmarket quickly launched a counter attack with the Bury kick chase none existent. This time the Stowmarket backs made no mistakes, showing some great hands and scoring a fantastic try in the corner.

Stowmarket were now fully in control with a solid defensive line continuing to press the Bury lads who were still playing very lateral. Another turnover and Stow were away again with another sweeping backs move from touchline to touchline and crossing the line in the far corner.

The Bury lads now started to fire, the communication increased along with the intensity and Stow were now struggling to deal with the pace and power. The ball was being retained and we had them now pinned in their 22 before Sol smashed through to score Burys try. Stowmarket quickly replied with another one of their own before half time to go in at the break with a comfortable 15 – 5 lead.

The second half got under way and Stowmarket stepped it up another couple of gears and blew us away with a powerful performance. Bury were unable to live with the pace of the game and were soon struggling to hang on. The final whistle eventually blew with Stowmarket running out 60 – 5 winners.

Plenty of positives and plenty still to work on, we look forward to our development journey continuing on Thursday evening and I’m sure we will all be stronger for the experience.