Bright sunshine and a blustery wind finally saw the twice postponed match at Casuals take place. At the Chicken Shack the Bulls had prevailed by a single point, so a close encounter was always on the cards.
A see-sawing first half saw Ives take the lead three times, only for Casuals to equalise each time.
Declan O’Neill and Paul Ashbridge combined to breach the home defence for Ives’ first, Casuals immediately responding with a sharp break for theirs.
A line break by Dan Hawkins gave Ben Fleming space to sprint to the line, at which point the Casuals winger attempted to remove his head and was shown yellow.
Again, the hosts responded well from the kick off, hustling Ives into an error and turning the possession into points.
A neat lineout move saw Ashbridge through a gap to score his second.
Again, the score was levelled as good hands by Casuals created an overlap. The winger made no mistake and scored in the corner.
With the half closing, Casuals may have taken the lead, but the ball was dropped with nobody to beat and Ives breathed a sigh of relief.
Half time 17-17
The second half saw the physicality from both sized ratchet up. O’Neill and Ashbridge continued to get over the gain line, the rest of the Ives pack taking their cue and pounding the home defence. Twice Ives were held up over the line. It took fully twenty minutes for Ashbridge to go in for his hattrick after the determined defensive effort was finally cracked.
With the wind now behind them, Casuals gained territory. In their eagerness to stretch their lead, Ives overplayed once too often. The ball went to ground as was grasped by Casuals for another equalising score.
For once, Ives could not respond. Casuals took the lead for the first time in the match following a length of the field score which caught Ives’ defence napping.
With just 10 minutes remaining, Ives again pounded the Casuals line. A collective drive upfield with Ives’ forwards and backs combining well saw Ashbridge over in the corner for his fourth try. The tough conversion attempt drifted wide and left Casuals 2 points ahead.
With time running out, Ives made a final attempt to snatch victory. Once again, determined Casuals defence forced a turnover and the loose ball was converted to the final score of the highly entertaining match.
Ives now regroup, ready to welcome neighbours St. Neots next weekend.