Tremendous Bull-dog spirit shown by St. Ives

A huge toll of injury and non-availability had caused a chat mid-week about handing the points to the hosts. What a good job that was scotched! Saturday morning saw players expecting to partake in what turned out to be the Bulls’ 2nds glorious victory 12-5 victory over Cantabrigians dragged into revving cars to make the trip across country.
Some juggling of the 15 resources who travelled meant that the 5 front rowers all played up front, and a couple more forwards enjoyed the damp pastures outside their usual areas of interest.
What a performance then followed. Sticking to basic rugby and tackling like demons, St Ives threw themselves at the home side. Luke Slade pressed into playing at 10 revealed a siege-gun boot and pinned Saints in their own half. A ruck transgression, which was to blight the home team throughout, led to a penalty chance, coolly converted by Slade.
After the first quarter, the Bulls were still in front and realised that their spirit and energy could cause an upset.
In the very wet conditions, both sides were struggling to maintain possession. Finding no way through the excellent central defence of Slade, Ollie Bartlett and Greg Dale, Saints began to kick the ball behind the Ives defence. From a 5m lineout, the Saints pack finally managed to breach the Ives defence and score a converted try.
Just on the half time whistle, Ives conceded a penalty in front to stand at 10-3.
Stirring words from the inspiring and influential Ross Thompson and skipper Josh Dear saw the Bulls start the second half well. Driving play through the forwards, where Michael Wright playing at 8 was excellent both with ball in hand and in defence, saw Saints on the back foot. Yet another penalty at the breakdown saw the referee lose his patience and bin the Saints openside. Slade converted the chance.
Bulls were in the game, but could not manufacture a try scoring chance while a man up. Losing patience, the ball was kicked away, allowing the Saints 10 to use the elements and pin Ives back. From the lineout, Ives won a scrum, but ambitiously trying to run from deep, lost possession and allowed the opposition a gift in the corner.
The spirit stayed immense throughout. New starter Duncan Williams had a good first game and continued to make ground. Youngster Matt Aveyard-Cowx tackled everything he could reach until his lungs gave out. And Tom McNamara continued to work well for possession at 9.
As the lack of a Bulls bench led to tired limbs, and despite the hosts having another player binned, Saints finally managed to outstrip the exhausted Bulls to score at the death.
To the guys who stepped up – massive respect. The Ives colours were worn with pride and such spirit augurs well when replicated in future also by the returning players (who must look out for their places after this week!).