Resounding victory, but players want more

St. Ives continued their impressive start to the season with a bonus point victory on the road at Rushden. The surface was slippery following early morning rain, but bright sunshine encouraged both teams to endeavour to entertain the considerable crowd with running rugby.
The return of Josh Dear at tight head, following his transatlantic post-nuptial celebrations, anchored another fine scrum performance by the Ives. Tommy Newman also enjoyed a tremendous game both at loose head and around the paddock.
From the first scrum of the match, Ollie Raine picked up at 8. Apparently scragged by the blindside flanker, he twisted free and broke through the close in defence. Leaving all defenders trailing in his wake, he sprinted under the posts from the half way line. Converted by Paul Ashbridge.
Rushden applied pressure and tested the Ives defence. The Bulls held firm until a “no arms” tackle was penalised giving the hosts their first penalty opportunity. Fortunately for the Ives, the kick went astray.
From the 22m restart, Ives regained possession. Mickey Drake chipped the rush defence and darted upfield. Good support was held up illegally. Ashbridge kicked to the corner setting up the chance for a lineout maul. Well executed, the maul surged for the line, only for Duncan Williams to join the “but, that was my try” club as Rushden infringed and conceded a penalty try.
Ives accuracy deserted them for a few minutes. Passes went to ground; lineouts and even a scrum were turned over. After much pressure, another penalty was conceded for holding on and this time the Rushden kicker eased the ball between the posts.
From the kick off, Raine again showed his aerial skills and grabbed the ball. Drake stepped his opposite number, feeding the supporting Ollie Bartlett who galloped in for the try, also converted.
Drake was in his element. As the half closed he stepped the defence once again, but the potentially try scoring pass went off beam and the hosts were relieved to close the half at 3-21.
The second half saw Rushden struggling with discipline as they failed to make inroads against excellent Ives defence. Objecting to a man and ball tackle, the centre chose to retaliate and was shown yellow.
Ives did not take advantage of the extra man until the ten minutes were nearly up. Taking a tap penalty, great attacking shape led to a short pass to the onrushing Raine who went in for his second and the team’s bonus point try. Converted by Ashbridge.
Rushden were still determined to compete and were rewarded when defensive pressure on the wide outside saw an interception. Chasing Bulls could not prevent the try, but did push the conversion out to the touchline, which proved too much for the Rushden kicker.
Ives’ concentration lapsed a while. Set piece possession became very scrappy. Passes again started to go astray. Despite that, the defensive effort continued to keep a stranglehold over the Rushden attack.
Ives accuracy returned and Rushden began to concede penalties. Several tap and go attempts were repelled by strong Rushden defence. Resorting to a scrum, Ives began to shunt their opponents back. The blindside flanker again erred to stem a pushover and was carded for his troubles. From the next scrum, Ives went all the way for Raine to flop on the ball for his hat trick. Ashbridge converted.
From the restart, Ives killed the game off with a lovely sequence of play. Dear gained ground from a ruck pick up, Ashbridge ran a splendid line and split the Rushden defence. The indefatigable Bartlett was once more in support and took the scoring pass. Ashbridge completed his 100% kicking for the day.
The final minutes were Rushden’s as they pounded the Ives defensive line. Unfortunately for them, that line was never in the red zone as Ives were determined to prevent further scores against. With the last play of the game, Newman took one for others’ earlier indiscretions and was carded for a no arms tackle.
Once again, skipper Bartlett was a happy man. “In particular, our defensive effort was outstanding today. Rushden played well, but only managed the interception try. We’ll take 5 points on the road any time.”
Coach Brown added, “The fascinating thing about the development of the team is the growth of self-appraisal. As last week, a score of 40+ was immediately followed by guys calling each other out about what might have been. This is a humility which will augur well for the tough encounters to come.”