North Manchester V Bury

In a bottom of the table clash, Bury headed to North Manchester RUFC prepared for a close fought battle, but in search of some highly valuable points.
The game was to start as expected, with lots of physicality, as both sides looked to get an upper hand in this exciting fixture. The visitors plans were soon to be undone when Jonny Allen filling in at centre was hit by his opposite number with a high shot - this led to a shuffle around and the introduction of another back row in the centres in the form of the returning Rick Rothwell.
This did not deter the Bury team and they were soon on the attack again, camped in the home side's twenty two meters. A cutting run run from Chris Potts was to result in the second injury of the afternoon and stretch Bury's resources further with back row replacement, Ed Watkins, filling in at centres also. Again Bury were to to rally and reaped their rewards for good attacking play when in the tenth minute captain, Alan Dobson, was able to open the scoring with a try in the corner. Following some quick thinking from scrum half Tom Smith to switch the play and quick hands from Ed Watkins released Dobson who was able to slide over evading the two wrong footed defenders. The difficult conversion from the sidelines was kicked unsuccessfully.
North Manchester appeared stunned by the resilience of the visitors and were to reply shortly through a penalty, to bring the score to 3-5.
Bury were to strike again, as a line-out drive powered by second rows, James Swinburn and Mark Blain, was to allow Oliver Frechini to score comfortably on the left-hand side of the field. The conversion was to converted this time by Tom Smith to increase the Bury lead further.
The home side were to score next in a move which saw the Bury back line exposed for their inexperience. North Manchester took advantage with some neat interplay, making a large gap for their centre to score under the posts. The conversion was kicked successfully.
With a confidence building, North Manchester were to score again with a dubious try from their back row forward. Following some direct play, the number six bundled his way towards the Bury try line. Having spilt it forward and then regaining it, Bury were shocked to see the referee award the try and not a scrum.
With a sense of grievance, tempers began to fray and after an exchange of opinions one player from each side was dismissed to the sin bin to calm down. The remainder of the half was to then pass with little incidence. The score going into half time was poised at 13-10.
From the restart, Bury were to play down the gentle slope. Starting as they had the first half, The Rams were to hold an extensive period of territory in the North Manchester half. After a penalty was kicked into touch, Bury were to have a succession of five metre line outs, unfortunately they could not repeat their feat of the first half and an organised home team pack were able to counter the Bury drive. North Manchester were to be reduced to fourteen again as one of their players was deemed to have taken the jumper out in the air and sent to the bin. This gave Bury the advantage again and from the resulting penalty were able to draw the scores level at thirteen a piece.
Unable to capitalise, but with plenty of pressure, the next ten minutes were to ebb away very quickly and North Manchester were able to escape having only conceded the three points from the initial penalty. With a full compliment again the home team were to regain the lead. From a penalty They opted to kick to the corner and a well worked move saw the loose head prop to peel at the front and score under pressure in the right hand corner. The conversion was missed.
A penalty shortly after this was to increase their lead to 21-13 with ten minutes remaining.
The never say die spirit of Bury that has been the redeeming feature of the Bury sides this year was to surface through winger Alex English. After some quick distribution from Will Smith along the line. The ball found its way to the left wing where English was able to make serious ground up, first through his pace and then a cleverly timed hack on. The home side's full back struggled under the pressure of the oncoming winger and allowed English to score to the left of the posts. The conversion was kicked successfully and this brought Bury right back into the game.
Searching for the winner, The Rams piled the pressure on and had the chance to win the game, after an infringement at the breakdown following some stellar work from Rob Freeman and Toby Larone, Bury were awarded a penalty. The kick taken by Smith was to hit the upright and bounce back out to the relief of North Manchester, who were to clear their lines and go on to seal the victory.
Bury will take great heart from the performance under the circumstances and spend this week working hard to improve on the required areas, before the visit of Ormskirk RUFC to Radcliffe road next Saturday for a 2:15pm kick-off.