Not a day for a free-flowing feast of running rugby. After recent linesman / Specsavers advert re-enactments this time we were taking no chances bringing our own crack touch judge Andy G-P - tooled up with wellies for the conditions - also a handy alibi to counter suspicions of not quite always keeping up with the play.

Playing into the wind in the first quarter the Bury lads started well after receiving the kick-off deep into their half – recycling the ball through numerous phases and passing and moving the ball well on a very slippery day. All of this in the face of very strong tackling from a well-drilled SW team. Bury performed well in the first scrum - continuing to grind out territory up the field and into the SW 22 before camping on the SW line for a while with numerous attempts to force a way over - and as Henry Hitt explained at length for most of the long journey home he should have scored but the ref gave a scrum instead, from which Ben Hewett finally did power his way over for the first try to the right of the posts and well converted by Charlie Feehan.

After the restart Bury continued to exert strong pressure against a very good SW side and playing into a strong breeze. Relentless tackling pressure on the SW line eventually yielded an attacking scrum 10m out from which Vincent La Starza barged his way over after prolonged pressure to give Bury a well-deserved 12-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
SW came out vigorously at the start of the second quarter - applying consistent pressure in the Bury 22 from kick-off. Despite now playing with the wind Bury were finding it difficult to break out of their half and eventually conceded an un-converted try to remain ahead 12-5 at the end of the second quarter.

This was a real energy sapper of a game - it proved difficult for kickers to get the ball off the ground at all - and when they did such was the pudding-like surface of the pitch there was virtually no bounce, the ball just splodging into the mud. Spectators and rolling subs on both sides were also trying to stay upright in the mud as well as not freeze in the biting wind - Charlie Chapman even going so far as to model a bright red, head to toe dry robe - reminiscent of the killer dwarf from seminal 70s horror film Don’t Look Now with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie – only a little larger.

The third quarter was mostly BSE camped in the SW 22 but unable to turn pressure into points. Bury gave away too many penalties for offside at scrums and rucks and for not releasing at the breakdown - something to continue working on because we continued to let SW relieve the pressure at critical points.

The final quarter saw the introduction of Billy Reid with cleaner kit even than the ref’s - and he was straight into action with a great catch from a high ball running it back into the SW half. Finlay Blair was all over the SW scrum half - forcing mistakes - before a great kick from Reid into the SW 22 established a good field position from where Harry Wooldridge powered over to give Bury a 17-5 lead which ended up as the final score.
So, on a day when the ball was like a bar of soap - plus cold hands and a biting wind – it was never going to be a day for pretty rugby. The lads stuck to the task well and came out on top against a Saffron Walden team with some notable victories against the likes of Colchester and Shelford already this season. To come out three tries to one up on such a day is a really good performance.

Special mention also for Charlie Feehan who had a fantastic game in such difficult conditions - kicking out of hand brilliantly for position and exerting increasing control as the game developed.