St Ives 1XV vs Stoneygate
St Ives travelled to the outskirts of Leicester today to face a Stoneygate side that were sitting in third place in the league. On a cold Saturday afternoon St Ives were determined to put last weekends game to rest and come out with all guns blazing.
It was obvious from the opening five minutes what Stoneygates game plan was to be, a strong, drilled pack had no intention of letting the glory boys have a go and everything came up the middle with some clever offloading. This caught St Ives napping to begin with and it was not long before Stoneygate crashed over from close range to score the first points. St Ives were quick to reply and some poor discipline from the Stoneygate pack allowed Adam Clark a chance at goal. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful but it opened St Ives' eyes to the Stoneygate weaknesses. It became obvious that for St Ives to make ground, they had to use the back line that was carving up the Stoneygate defence like a Sunday roast.
The pressure eventually paid off and St Ives were awarded a penalty once again. Adam was sure not to make the same mistake again and slotted the chance to bring the score to 5-3. From the resulting kick off St Ives went on the offensive once again, and quickly found themselves back in the opposition 22. Unfortunately a loose pass was picked up by the Stoneygate pack who stormed up the field and managed to score to the right of the posts. At 10-3 and little time left in the half, St Ives were a long way from finished. Pouncing on a loose ball the St Ives pack managed to provide quick clean ball for their eager backs. It found it's way to Ben Pinion on the left wing, who beat his man on the outside. The covering defence was good but an inside pop to Paul Spencer kept the move alive. It was Ben who took the honours though, continuing the support and crashing over in the corner. Adam missed the conversion and took the half time score to 10-8.
With the wind now behind them, St Ives started as they had finished the second half. A catch and maul from the restart gave Steve Burke the option to attack the defensive line. Sucessfully drawing his man he popped the ball back inside to the support runners. This took St Ives 40 yards up the field and some quick ball from the ruck found Paul Spencer infront of the the line with no defence, it was try time again for St Ives but a blustery wind was causing problems for Clark who again missed the conversion.
This quick score woke up the Stoneygate forwards who resorted to their early first half tactics, a series of forward drives and clever offloads found them back in St Ives territory. A loose pass once again became St Ives' downfall and Stoneygate were free to score under the posts. The successful conversion made the score 17-13. This score became a catalyst for a game of keep ball by Stoneygate. St Ives struggled to regain possession and Stoneygate kept everything tight for the remainder of the half. They managed a second converted score towards the end that put the game out of St Ives' reach.
Final Score Stoneygate 24 - St Ives 13
St Ives face Huntingdon next weekend in a return fixture from the early season win, the following week (25th November) St Ives finally have a home game against Kempston