27th August 2005
Biggleswade vs. St Ives
Saturday saw the start of St Ives’ new season with an away game to Biggleswade. The fixture was planned as a trial game, played over 4 quarters, an ideal opportunity to put new and old players through their paces.
The summer has seen a number of changes at St Ives, with Alan Hine leaving the club for pastures new, ex Doncaster professional Mel Jessop stood up to the mark as senior coach. The emphasis so far in pre-season training has been fitness, identified as being a major downfall for St Ives last season. Mel brought with him fitness instructor Colin Rich who has gladly put the St Ives squad through their paces (despite major resistance!).
The game started brightly with St Ives coming out guns blazing, they immediately started pressuring the Biggie back line with strong runs from Matt Hazlewood and Mickey Drake. A quick lineout from Adam Clarke caught the Biggie defence napping and the resulting ruck saw St Ives awarded a penalty straight in front of the posts. Jack Blackley stepped up and slotted the kick putting St Ives up 3-0. The quarter, as was expected, became strewn with errors, but strong tackling from Matt Hazlewood and Jack Blackley kept Biggie at bay.
The next 2 quarters saw mixed fortunes for both teams. St Ives’ defence again held firm and kept Biggie out for the majority of the 40 minutes. This was thanks to some crunching tackles from Dave Williams amongst others. Mickey Drake continued his fine form from last season with a number of darting breaks, he broke the line and off loaded a perfect pass to Chris Morten. Chris wisely cut back inside, creating the space for Nick Crane to finish in the corner, making the score St Ives 8 – Biggleswade 0.
The Biggleswade pressure eventually paid off, with them scoring in the third quarter, and after the successful conversion, brought the game to 8 -7. Adam Clarke (now playing at Fly Half) started to run the show. Some pin point passes and good hands brought St Ives back into the Biggleswade half and from the ruck, Lee Jackson found Adam stood in the pocket, 30 metres out. Adam didn’t need a second invitation and slotted the drop goal making it 11 – 7 going into the final quarter.
The final quarter brought about a change of fortune. Biggleswade brought out the big guns and enjoyed the vast majority of possession. Despite a gutsy display of defence from St Ives, they could not keep Biggleswade out for ever. They managed to cross the line twice, one from a driving maul, 5 metres out and the other from a well worked centres move. Both were converted, bringing the final score to Biggleswade 21 – St Ives 11.
Comments from Coach Mel Jessop were positive. St Ives should be pleased with the performance they gave, it was obvious that work is needed on set plays and back line moves but for a first game all players gave a good account of themselves.
1st Team Captain Ross Thompson was also pleased with the performance, especially the improvement in fitness. Players were able to keep going, whereas last year we would be a one half team. Work is now needed on the attacking side and set play. Rucking was non existent at times and we definitely need to do some scrimmaging!
Training is on every Tuesday and Thursday at Somersham Road, 7pm start. (Colin will be continuing with the fitness training too!)