St Ives 1XV vs. Huntingdon 2XV
This Saturday saw the return fixture of this hotly contested local derby. With the honours of the first round going to St Ives after scoring over 100 points past an ageing Huntingdon team early in the season, it was obvious that Huntingdon were going to bolster their ranks to try and avoid another embarrassment. Things were in disarray from the start, Hinchingbrooke school refused the use of their pitches due to them being waterlogged so St Ives were again hosts, this led to a hectic day at St Ives with all 3 teams playing at home but despite the cramped changing rooms, St Ives were determined to beat Huntingdon once again.
The game kicked off and kept the derby spirit flowing. Tackling was hard and firm and people were not afraid to get stuck in, an even 10 minutes saw St Ives miss a penalty chance to the right of the posts and Huntingdon pepper the St Ives defensive lines with some strong running. St Ives held firm and it was off the back of a Huntingdon attack that the first try was scored. With a wide ball not finding a Huntingdon player, Marc Sands was quickest to react pouncing on the loose ball and sprinting to the line from 70 metres, Jack Blackley was successful with the conversion. This catapulted the St Ives team and led to a period of one way traffic. Huntingdon tried to mount attacks but were never able to keep the move alive, with the St Ives pack keeping everything tight, clean quick ball was available for the young back line to exploit. Two more tries followed as a result of the clean possession, one more from Marc Sands (who should have completed his hat-trick but mistook the 5m line for the try line) and one from Jack Blackley. Jack was successful with the 2 conversions and took the score to 21-0. The end of the half was marred by the sin-binning of Jack Blackley for retaliating with his fists, but despite the numerical deficit St Ives were able to notch up one more try on the stroke of half time through John Paxton, whose strong running from fullback was proving to be a thorn in the side for the visiting team. Mike Sykes took over the kicking duties but unfortunately pulled the conversion attempt wide. Half time score St Ives 26 - Huntingdon 0.
The second half was a similar story to the first, Huntingdon were now appearing to run out of steam and the St Ives back line kept slicing through the defence. Steve Burke opened the scoring for the second period, popping up on the shoulder to receive the offload and 'sprint' for the line. Jack missed the conversion attempt. Huntingdon were then able to notch some points on the board with a penalty attempt in the St Ives 22, but this was to be their only points of the day. Mike Sykes finished the St Ives points tally for the day to bring the final score to St Ives 36 - Huntingdon 3. Special mention has to go to the St Ives front row, who battled and fought all game long both in the tight and in the loose and especially Pete Hammond whose hunger for the game seems to grow each week.
This was indeed a stronger Huntingdon side than earlier in the season, but once again they seemed unable to cope with the pace of St Ives' back line. It was good to see the inclusion of some of their first team in the squad, and to keep the tries against column empty. Hopefully this can begin to build some momentum for St Ives in the lead up to Christmas.
St Ives enjoy a home game again next week as they face Kempston in the next round of the league competition, kick off is at 2.15 and supporters are always more than welcome.