Bury take a late pasting

CONTESTS against De La Salle are always hard-fought, and though the scoreline flatters the visitors, neither side was prepared to compromise.

The pre-match assessment by the Bury coaching staff was correct, the visitors cannot scrum in the accepted sense, their mauling technique lacks finesse and their rucking is, to be charitable, robust.

However, their line-out work is good and their ball-handling skills, particularly in the threequarters are excellent and it was on this platform that they fashioned their victory.

Bury were to take the lead after seven minutes when, after a period of sustained pressure, lock forward Martin Kennedy took an excellent line-out ball and from seven metres out Jason Smyth peeled off across the line for an unconverted try.

De La Salle were to lose their scrum half to the sin bin for ten minutes for deliberately killing the ball in the loose. Just before his return to the pitch Bury had a clearance kick charged down and some slick passing saw the De La Salle left wing score in the corner for an unconverted try.

Flank forward Robinson had to leave the field in the 20th minute with a blood injury, having taken what was in fairness, a blow to the mouth and was replaced by Liam McDougall.

His reward for coming on as substitute was to have the De La Salle No 8 forward walk all over his head and he also received a ten-minute sin bin penalty.

The match official, however, was wrong in his interpretation of the foul play law. He had previously warned the team collectively that any foul play would be punished by a red card and a sending off, not merely a ten-minute suspension.

Stand off Glyn Smith added the conversion from the resulting penalty in only his second appearance of the season having had a double fracture of his arm requiring reconstructive surgery.

He was still a presence and though he got poor service from the base of the scrum and not a great deal of cover, acquitted himself well.

It was his last effort with a 50-metre attempt on goal which fell just short that was the last kick of the half and Bury turned with a three-point advantage.

If Bury had assessed De La Salle's strengths and weaknesses, the visitors coach, when listening to his half-time talk to his players, had similarly assessed Bury's vulnerable areas.

The home side's defence, particularly in the threequarter line, was way below par and they were getting little or no ball from the set scrum.

Though technically superior, they could not counter De La Salle persistently wheeling the scrum and as the Bury No 8 was not picking up at the back, though it has to be said the channel from the lock forwards was slow, the home side could not use the one area in which it was dominant.

Bury were pinned in their own half for ten minutes after the re-start and De La Salle took the lead with a converted try in the 50th minute.

Now only some four points adrift, Bury launched what was to be their final sustained effort and camped in the De La Salle 22 for over ten minutes.

However, even with three line-outs and two set scrums only captain John Westwood got close to the line, but was held up one metre short.

De La Salle weathered the storm, worked their way downfield and in a passing move which took the ball twice crossfield, the right wing scored in the corner with a three-man overlap to further increase their lead.

At this stage there was an air of respectability about the score, but with the home side running out of steam the visitors were to dominate the last 20 minutes and increase their victory margin, which is not representative of the first threequarters of the match.

BURY: Smyth, Whitehead, Shimmons, Roberts, Kennedy, Westwood (c), Smithson, Robinson, Livesey, Smith, C Wardle, Fawcett, Leeming, Martin, McGaraghy. Replacements: A McLeod (for Robinson 20 and 62 mins), Dixon (for Roberts 63 mins).

Tomorrow Bury travel to Carlisle to play the league leaders (kick-off 2.15pm).