Bury St Edmunds…32pts
Guernsey………..25pts
CHEERS of ‘Bury boys’ echoed from the main grandstand as No.8 Ruaraidh Williams scored the home side’s fifth try to win a titanic tussle against Guernsey Raiders.
A dominant forward pack with a clear set-piece advantage laid the platform as Bury St Edmunds earned their first home win since before Christmas and reignited their ambitions of a top five finish this season.
With the sun beaming down and the pitch in near perfect condition, it was end-to-end from Bury St Edmunds’ kick-off, and on the seventh minute a turnover deep in their own half led to Bury wing Alex Earnshaw leaving three defenders in his wake to set-up scrum-half Will Metcalfe to score.
Guernsey targeted the restart shrewdly, blind-side flanker Liam Welch turning over the ball and setting up Ethan Smith to respond.
The Suffolk side won several penalties and from a right-wing line-out the backs worked the ball left to Earnshaw who skirted around Guernsey fly-half Charlie Simmons to slide over.
The match became stop-start until the home-side took a Guernsey scrum and kicked to touch. The lineout driving maul was held up but Patrick Robinson muscled over from a quick restart just after the half-hour.
Guernsey camped in Bury territory either side of half-time but couldn’t score, before a Metcalfe tap-and-go led to inside centre Samir Kharbouch dashing over for the home-side’s try bonus point.
Several replacements reignited the Islanders. Niall McGann finished off a team move in the right corner with his first touch of the ball, Ciaran McGann kicked a penalty on the hour mark and openside Matt Creber muscled over from a line-out to make it 24-20.
But Williams’ driving maul try proved decisive for Bury’s victory, and debutant Blake Boyland’s late score off a Simmons move could only ensure two bonus points for Guernsey.
Jacob Ford, Bury St Edmunds director of rugby, said: “This is the big result we needed and I’m pleased with the character and resilience we showed at the end to seal the win.
“We’ve been in a winning position in eight games but lost it in the last play so it was about time we came out on the right side because we could easily have fallen into the same trap as previously.
“The forwards were brilliant, 100 per cent at the line-out, didn’t concede a maul try, scored one ourselves and were very dominant in the scrum against one of the league’s biggest packs. That was a big pillar for our success. Hopefully it’ll give us the momentum to break into the top five.”
REFEREE: Harry Parsons
ATTENDANCE: 473
Star player Calvin Mitchell -Bury St Edmunds
TEAMS
BURY ST EDMUNDS: Hall; Affleck, Loose, Kharbouch, Earnshaw; Penfold, Metcalfe; Robinson, McCartney, Mitchell, Harrison, Kelland, Grigg-Pettit, Guy, Williams.
Replacements: Stone, Donovan, Russell, Sams, Rees
GUERNSEY RAIDERS: Roberts; Armstrong, McGann C, Dawe, Smith; Simmonds, Boyland S; Dunn, Le Noury, Dromantas, Hackett, Webb, Welch, Creber, Poullet.
Replacements: Bray, Batiste, Davies, Boyland B, McGann N.
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