10's Tournament

Bury's pre-season preparations continued with a trip to the west coast to compete in a ten-a-side tournament. After being informed that there would be eight teams involved, the reality was that there would only be five. The format of the competition comprised of each team playing each other once, before the team with the least points dropping out and the remaining teams playing a semi-final and if victorious a final.

Bury started the competition facing Thornton & Cleveley's A side. The Bury team started incredibly brightly and ran out 35-0 winners with tries from forward Jordan Miller, Callum Pattern and two from Sam Ware, one of which was a dazzling, mazy run of 80 metres!
In their next group stage game Bury were to face a Cavaliers team made up of a mixture of players who had attended without a full team. Some of these players, such as Paul Kyle, Deon Ormerod and Callum Jackson, coming from Bury. Although in the early stages the Cavaliers' defence held strong, eventually the Bury team's power and speed began to show. Tries from Alex English, Wayne Elloway, Karl Simpson and a further four from Speedy Sam Ware ensured a 35-0 victory.

In their third group game and after a long break Bury were to face Thornton's B side who turned out to be clearly of a better standard than their A-team. Bury were shocked by the fast start of their opposition and were to concede two tries before rallying a come back with a try through Callum Pattern. With time running out Bury were unable to find a further break through and were subjected to their first defeat of the tournament.

In the final group game of the afternoon Bury faced a Panthers side who had at this stage only lost one game, also to Thornton Cleavleys' B team. Bury were to start the brighter and with tries from scrum half Karl Simpson, Jordan Miller and a brace from Sam Ware, again including a full length of the pitch try, Bury were to run out comfortable winners 24-5.

With three wins from four, Bury finished in second place and were to face the third placed Panthers team in their semi-final for a place in the final against Thornton & Cleveley's B. in a much closer game Bury booked their place in the final with tries from George Kelly, Wayne Elloway and a stand out try from a sublime off-load by Elliott Naylor to put David Kenyon over the try line to score Bury's final try of the game.

In the final Bury were to face the only side to have beaten them and were keen to seek revenge. In the first half the game was very even, but Bury managed to edge a lead with a break down the left wing from Sam Ware. After the teams turned around, Thornton were to use the conditions to their advantage and with three tries took a 7-15 lead. With time running out Ware was to score his final try (a total of 10) but this was not enough to avenge their earlier defeat or to win the tournament.

After their narrow 14-15 point defeat in the final, coaches Darren Hall and Jonny Allen felt that their were a lot of positives to take away from the tournament and were looking forward to returning to the full sided game against a Sedgley Park 2nd XV next Saturday at the Radcliffe Road ground. Kick-off 2pm.