St. Ives at Bourne – 27th November 2005 .
The Saints made the long journey to the fenland outpost that is Bourne RUFC, with a squad of thirteen under 8’s and twenty under 7’s.
On a very heavy pitch (but the fenland soil was beautiful!), both Saints sides put on a strong show against an inexperienced but spirited Bourne team.
Under 8’s
Bourne 10, St. Ives Blues 25
After leisurely starts in recent weeks, the Blues were straight off the mark, and committed play by the hosts was not enough to overcome the visitors’ pace. Two tries each for Cameron Pollock and Reuben Patrick (who had a third disallowed), and the first try of his career for the Saints’ match captain, PJ Malem, won the match for the visiting Blues side.
St. Ives Blues 20, St. Ives Reds 15
Thanks are due to George of the Bourne squad for guesting for the St. Ives Reds team. A bittersweet match for Jake Bowen, whose excellent hat-trick for the Reds was cancelled out by two tries from Reuben Patrick, another from Cameron Pollock, and the winner for the Blues by Ross Meagher.
Bourne 15, St. Ives Reds 25
Fresh from their narrow defeat by their clubmates, Saints Reds returned to the field and made amends with a convincing display. A stronger showing by the refreshed hosts yielded tries for George, Josh and Oliver, but two tries each from George Smith and James Digby, and another from Jake Bowen, completed a deserved victory for the visitors.
Under 7’s
St. Ives Blues 4 v 6 Bourne Bears
On a sticky pitch the crowd was duly entertained with a spirited game of mini rugby. Bourne started well and scored early on. St. Ives struggled to find their rhythm, but William Hirons lifted thing with mazy run that took him close to the Bourne line, fortunately Jed was on hand to take the scoring pass. There followed a period of dogged defence with some good tagging from Charlie Bowen and Bradley Herbert, eventually enforcing the turnover. There were a couple of short bursts from Oliver Naylor and Flynn Kennedy before the ball found its way to Tommy McCarthy who ran half the length of the pitch to put St. Ives into the lead. Bourne struck back quickly, only for William Rolt to restore the lead straight from the restart. The scores were tied just on half time as St. Ives was unable to prevent Bourne crossing again. (HT: 3 – 3)
With a squad of eleven the enforced changes to side disrupted the flow for St. Ives, and Bourne took advantage to score twice without reply. Things improved after William Rolt scored his second of the game following a good run from Tommy McCarthy. Despite managing to turn the ball over several times over the next couple of minutes, St. Ives were unable to hang on to possession long enough to put Bourne under pressure, and with the final play of the game Bourne scored their sixth and final try.
St. Ives Browns 6 v 7 Bourne Tigers
In the second match the Browns appeared. Bourne started quickly and took the lead, but St. Ives hit back when Thomas Johnson leveled following a storming George Peacock run. Some tremendous tagging from Harry Spittle and Zac Ling enabled St. Ives to take control of the ball again. Sam Tuckwood made good ground only to be stopped short of the line, but with a good pass he found Harry Spittle on hand to score. Stout defending prevented the quick riposte, but the Browns just couldn’t get hold of the ball, and eventually Bourne crossed again. St. Ives, however, would not be kept quiet, with Cullen Smy rounding a few defenders and with Thomas Johnson on hand to pick up the pieces St. Ives were ahead again. More good defending ensued with Daniel Purver and Freddie Smith in the mix the half-time whistle wouldn’t come soon enough as Bourne scored just before the break. (HT: 3 – 3)
More thrilling antics followed in the second half, with tit for tat scoring started by Bourne. Harry Spittle then scored the first of his second half brace. The whole team was involved in good defence work with Daniel Hudson and Sam Tuckwood fairing well. With Bourne having scored again Cullen Smy brought parity, Bourne then crossed again, only for Harry to score with a marvelous run down the wing to outstrip the defence. It was a shame that the game couldn’t have ended here, as this would probably have been the result that the game deserved, but Bourne had the final say with a score right at the death.
St. Ives Blues/Browns 5 v 6 Bourne Bears/Tigers
In the final game of the day all four teams had another run out, with the Browns playing the Bears in the first half and the Blues competing with the Tigers in the second half. The first half started with some strong running from St. Ives, Harry Spittle and Zac Ling to the fore. The good work finally paid off with Sam Tuckwood going over for his first try of the day. Bourne quickly levelled with the Browns going to sleep, Thomas Johnson nearly scored, but just stepped into touch. Bourne came back strongly but good all round team defending kept them out, and they again took charge of the ball. This time Thomas Johnson was on hand to take a pass from Cullen Smy to put St. Ives ahead. The Browns, however, couldn’t hang on to give the Blues a lead to defend in the second half as Bourne equalised at the death. (HT: 2 – 2)
The second half started with both teams in determined mood. St. Ives defended well and managed to claim control of the ball. This time it was Bourne defending well and managed to prevent another Tommy McCarthy run. From the subsequent move the ball St. Ives ran in to touch to give possession back to Bourne, this time the defence was breached and Bourne claimed the advantage. Oliver Naylor then had another good run, only to be tagged, but managed to find Bradley Herbert who made another good charge, Chris Duma took the ball on and found William Rolt in support who glided outside the Bourne defence to add to his tally for the day. Bourne again scored quickly, but St. Ives hit straight back when Tom somehow managed to wriggle and step his way through the packed Bourne defence. With a series of missed tags and lost possession Bourne added a further two tries, but William Hirons scored the ‘try of the day’ as he stepped and jinked his way through the entire Bourne team to complete the days events.
Under 12s
Bourne v St Ives Under 12’s
St Ives took control from the outset passing the ball well and using their weight advantage in the forwards. St Ives proved to strong and started to score tries freely with both Backs and Forwards combining well. Credit to Bourne who never allowed their heads to drop and continued to battle hard but the game finished with St Ives running in twelve tries to none. A big thank you to Louis Reattig, Lewis Bacon and Michael Moriarty from St Ives who kindly volunteered to boost a depleted Bourne side and put in a brave performance. Tries: James Hunter, Dan Malem x 2, Harry Martin, Angus Hughes, Jake Hill, Nathan Dewar, George Collett and Jack Topham x 3. Conversions: Jack Topham x 6, Nathan Dewar, George Collett, Angus Hughes and Dan Malem.
Under 14s
St. Ives 17 - Ely / Newmarket 0
In a match arranged at short notice Ely and Newmarket combined to provide St. Ives with a stern test of how this developing side has progressed. The sides were well matched and eager to compete at every opportunity. The hosts were forced to defend for much of the first quarter, with the visitors pressing hard to break the line but to no avail. Gradually the Saints forwards took control in the set piece providing the backs with opportunity to break out on a number of occasions, with Liam Cooke, Matt Bligh and Andrew Howard being prominent. From an Ely infringement the ball was moved wide through the backs with Tino Zicchi cutting back inside to score on his debut for the club.
With a few changes made, both sides continued to press hard after the break, with the visitors using the slope and breeze to good effect. Again, only some stout defence kept Ely at bay. Some excellent work by the hosts to turn over opposition ball resulted in Howard feeding Bligh who raced from halfway to score under the posts. Howard added the extra points. Injuries to Tom Mulqueen and Jack Smith forced St. Ives to make further positional changes. Andrew Howard took over at fly-half and from a superb piece of scrummaging moved the ball through the backs with Zicchi looping round to score his second try of the match. This was an excellent all round performance in which all of the St. Ives squad played their part. The St. Ives man-of-the match went to Ben Sockett for his tireless effort in the back row.
Under 15s
St. Ives 7 - Rushden & Higham 29
What a difference a week makes. Having started well in this game against another strong opposition pack, St Ives failed to capitalise on a couple of opportunities in the backs and lived to rue it. Good early pressure from the forwards led to a penalty chance, which slipped wide. More good ball was used by the backs to gain momentum, but delayed or poor final passes meant the home side stayed scoreless. With their first foray into home territory, Rushden won a series of rucks and mauls to create a try scoring overlap.
The second period began with Saints winning good lineout ball; Dan Breed took the opposition on solo and scored a brilliant individual try. Matt Nice converted. For the rest of the half, St Ives performance became error-strewn. Dropped balls, mistakes on the ground and tiring defence, kept Rushden on the advantage, and they scored four unanswered tries. To their credit, the hosts never gave up the contest and the final play of the game saw a magnificent series of team rucks, which took St Ives to within a few metres of scoring, but the pattern of the game was set and a knock on brought proceedings to an end. St Ives’ man of the match was Simon Dunn who worked and tackled tirelessly throughout.