Bury started with the wind behind them and were quickly on the attack. The pack hit the rucks ferociously as Bury looked to play with ball in hand, an early break by Lucas not quite resulting in a try. After some great pressure Ryan broke through and scored under the posts with Stu adding the conversion. We kept pushing the ball through the hands with Bully causing Southwold loads of problems in midfield, before Rhys found himself in space out wide and after some brilliant work beat 3 defenders to score with Stu adding the conversion. Another try followed after great work along the line through the backs with Charlie powering over in the corner to make it 19-0.

Southwold then came back in to the game getting their big runners over the gain line. I’ll discipline at a ruck gave Southwold a chance to kick to the corner and they eventually piled over and converted with another try from their pack being converted on the stroke of half time which really changed the complexion of the game.

After half time Bury struggled for fluency and possession and Southwold really made their power game pay. They scored two quick tries to go 28-19 up. The boys rallied and created some excellent pressure and Sam H scored after some great pick and go work to bring us back in to contention with the score at 28-24. However a dramatic comeback was not to be with Southwold replying quickly and then powering over from close range to finish us off.

The game was much closer than the result suggests. We probably weren’t clinical enough out wide on occasions and when close to their line, whereas Southwold used their huge runners really well when close to ours, and converted their chances better than us. Over the whole game we created enough chances to win but didn’t take them,but fair play Southwold deserved their victory. Both sides played some great rugby and the pack put in a massive shift, dominating the scrum. Kit, Archie and Hari were immense in the front row, and Scott Ryan and James were everywhere in the back row.

Thank you to Southwold who were excellent hosts, and good luck to them for the rest of the season. Thanks to the ref who I thought was really good. Also a quick word of thanks to the supporters who were brilliant and full of positive encouragement. Lucas was voted man of the match by Southwold.