Lions come on strong with two late tries
Leicester ………17
Bury St Ed ……….0
SEVENTEEN points in the final 15 points saw Leicester Lions overcome Bury in filthy conditions.
Continuous rain over the previous 16 hours had left the playing area covered in surface water.
Bury played with the advantage of the slope and a slight breeze in the first half, but the conditions led to a tightly contested encounter with little open running rugby.
Bury had the better of the game, putting Lions under pressure and going close to the line on several occasions. But stout defence and excellent Lions tackling kept Bury at bay.
After the break Lions started to come back into the game, but Bury were still a competitive unit.
On 65 minutes Lions finally got the scoreboard with a penalty by Ben Young.
The match was still evenly balanced but going into the last ten minutes, Lions’ application moved their play into the ascendancy and their driving pressure started to show at last.
Bury’s Ben Cooper was yellow-carded for a technical offence on 73 minutes and Lions made the most of the extra man.
In the last five minutes endeavour and pressure produced driving forwardplay tries for Drew Rudkin and Ethan Godefroy, both converted by Young, to give Lions a deserved victory.
Lions head coach Gareth Collins said: “Bury St Edmunds gave us a good game and put us under pressure, especially in the first half.
“I was proud of the way the team stuck to their task and took the upper hand towards the end of the game.”
