In the lunchtime kick-off the home Bury side was definitely switched on from the start. They flew out of the blocks, putting the Ipswich YM under near relentless pressure for the opening ten minutes. Austin Dennis made a couple of excellent early runs showing intelligent support play and, when he was held up 5 metres short, Angus Hudson was on hand to drive over and score. Billy Reid successfully converted.

From the re-start Freddie Dean set William Hudson-White free for a pacy 70 metre run down the left-hand flank, resulting in both twins being on the scoresheet in the first three minutes of the match – not a feat that is seen very often at any level of any sport! Thomas Cornwall added the extras. A near replica of this try took place from the resulting re-start; Finn O’Donnell collecting and releasing Jack Griggs down the same flank to score again; Billy Reid added the conversion.

Ipswich YM managed to put Bury under some pressure after the home pack went off their feet at the ruck, but on 9 minutes Finn O’Donnell turned from provider to scorer as he ran home from 50 metres out to score under the posts. Thomas Cornwall added the two points to leave the score at 28-0 after ten minutes and Ipswich YM somewhat on the rack after the impressive opening blitz.

It is great credit to the Ipswich YM side that they took the game to Bury for the next ten minutes. Pressure was building and only a superb tackle from the ever-excellent Billy Reid prevented a try. On 20 minutes captain Jack Griggs broke away with the ball to give the home defence a much-needed rest before finding Charlie Chapman offering up his now customary excellent supporting line. A clever offload from Chapman found Henry Cain who still had work to do but took his try very well. Thomas Cornwall added the conversion.

There were great performances all over the park – Angus Hudson excelling at the breakdown and Daniel Downey proving a safe pair of hands with a great catch and subsequent set for the home side. Just before half-time a strong run from Angus Hudson set up Alisdair Evans to score a good try and complete a very satisfactory first period with the score at 40-0.

The second half saw Nico Marchini pull on the Ipswich YM shirt on his return from the morning fixture and this helped bring more solidity to the away midfield. Newcomer Josh Crawford was straight into the action on the wing for Bury, putting in a great defensive tackle and, along with more superb cover play from Billy Reid, keeping Ipswich YM at bay. However, after 5 minutes of the half Nico Marchini jinked his way through the home defence to score for the away side.

Bury struck straight back when a Jack Griggs run was held up but he offloaded to Billy Reid to score. Ipswich YM then doubled their tally and their all-round game was improving significantly. This seemed to spur the home side back into action and Reuben Sorooshian held onto the ball at fly half and ran an excellent angle back inside to out-smart the defence and score a fine individual try. Billy Reid added the extra points to take the lead out to 52-12.

On 16 minutes Jack Griggs looked certain to score before slowing up and naively losing the ball to a covering Nico Marchini – it will be interesting to see how long this takes to live down on the training ground! On the plus side it did not affect his game play on the day, as a lineout training ground move was expertly executed a couple of minutes later, releasing him down the blind side to score and make amends for his earlier lapse.

There was still time for Henry Cain to continue his impressive match with some excellent ball stealing and for Billy Reid to cement his man of the match award with a great try from 50 metres out as he expertly sold at least three dummies on his weaving way to the try line. The rare and welcome sight of a prop forward successfully taking the subsequent conversion completed the scoring for the day, as Alasdair Evans stepped up to add the extras. Bury had performed well across the whole team to produce a very pleasing 64-12 victory and further extend their unbeaten home record.

Man of the Match (Forwards): Angus Hudson
Man of the Match (Backs): Billy Reid
Most improved (Forwards): Henry Cain
Most improved (Backs): Daniel Downey