Closely contested match ends in defeat for the Bulls

Having hosted five ladies’ teams in a round robin event on Friday evening, the Chicken Shack was again packed with rugby matches on the Saturday. The launch weekend hosted 10 girls and boys 7s teams in a tournament which ran all day.
The senior sides took to the pitch in the afternoon and put on a nerve-jangling game to keep the large crowd thoroughly entertained. Naturally, the first competitive match of the season for both sides saw some curate’s egg passages of play.
Owain Collard struck first for Stags with a penalty.
Soon after, the Bulls won a lineout close in only for Ollie Bartlett to be held up over the line by strong defence.
Following the issue of a yellow card, Ives defence was stretched, and Barney West finished off a move wide out with the first try of the game, converted by Collard.
With the half in its dying minutes, Ives were again thwarted after skipper John Paxton was released following good driving play by the pack. Crashing towards the line a number of Huntingdon players managed to get themselves under the ball and prevent the score.
Half time 0-10
Ives started the second half well. Upping the pace, Paxton received the ball following a quickly taken penalty and there was no stopping him as he broke through and scored, converting his own try.
Shortly after, a superb driving maul from a lineout put the Stags defence on the back foot. Paxton released Bartlett who breached the defence to score. Paxton added the extras.
From the kick off, Ives played the ball out from their 22 with good offloading up to the halfway line. Then, an overambitious offload saw possession lost. Stags transition was very good and interpassing down the wing saw them go over for a converted try.
With a quarter of the match still remaining, it was either sides’ game. Both has chances to score, with Stags missing a couple of penalties. Ives looked the more likely to score with ball in hand, but could not breach the scrambling Stags defence.
One last attack saw the Bulls turned over and Collard gleefully kicked the ball into touch and claim the win.
Head Coach Paul Humphreys was sanguine after the game. “That was an evenly contested game. I felt we had more to go give, but a bit of disruption in our line up before kick-off probably unsettled us more than we thought.
“Let’s give Stags credit, they took their chances well and on the balance of play probably edged the first half. The second half we started strong, scored two and I felt then we were about to move through the gears and take the game away from Stags. Unforced errors were not our friend and Stags defended well.
“We probably could have made some different choices in the last 10 minutes which would have given us victory.
It’s probably fair to say we underestimated the strength of this league. Rest assured we will come back stronger.”
Ives 2nds travelled to Wymondham to face a strong side and went down two tries to six. Ives scorers were Ben Peach and Simon Hollingsworth, both converted by Matt Millar.
The feast of rugby concluded on Sunday morning with mini and junior registration day. The club was delighted to welcome dozens of new recruits in all age groups.