Old Reds’ centenary starts with a real bang
Old Redcliff’……24pts
Bury St Eds……….14pts
OLD Redcliffians started 2018, their centenary year, in the best possible way by earning a much-needed bonus point win against Bury St Edmunds.
Coach Saul Nelson was quick to praise his team’s effort but wants to use the win as a stepping stone, demanding more victories from his side.
“The lads needed to perform and showed heart and determination out there to take the win. We were out on our feet at the end, I can’t fault them”, Nelson said.
“A great reward for their efforts, but it must be a stepping stone to more wins and is just game one going forward.”
The Reds had a dream start scoring as early as two minutes, Ethan Doyle touching down from a neat Jermaine Jones pass after a sweeping move.
The game was somewhat scrappy with both sides making mistakes for the next few minutes, with most of play between the 22s.
Reds managed to apply some pressure after half an hour and pinned the visitors back, Bury lost Alex Stanley to a yellow card as he prevented the ball being released and Reds kicked to the corner.
They pressed again and Sean Stapleton joined his teammate on the side for ten minutes at the next breakdown.
The numerical advantage told and the referee awarded a penalty try as Reds forced the Bury pack back over the line.
The home side were now dominating but a rare Bury attack saw them break through and a good angled run allowed Chris Lord to score under the posts, Fraser Honey converting to keep them in it at the break trailing 12-7.
The second period started with Bury St Edmunds in the ascendancy but tenacious home tackling kept them out. Once the hosts got up field they looked dangerous and a lineout drive and rolling maul created space for back row forward Dan Fry to crash over and extend Redcliffians lead midway through the half.
Bury went on the attack again in waves but the hosts dug deep and held them out.
Again from an attack based on a penalty to touch, and a lineout, Reds tied in the defence and a welltimed short pass allowed replacement scrum half Ben Fry to burst through for the bonus point try, Jermaine Jones converting and they were seventeen points to the good with ten minutes to play.
Understandably Bury threw everything at Reds but they stood firm until the final two minutes when some quick thinking and neat handling allowed Lord to score again.
McBride drop kicking the extras, but it was too little too late and Old Redcliffians took a thoroughly deserved win.
Bury St Edmunds coach Ollie Smith concluded: “On the day the best team won and they battled hard to take the points against us.”
