Bury V Garstang

Rams ‘hail’ first win
Bury win their first league game this season in some awful conditions.
Bury travelled away to Garstang this week searching for a win to ignite their season. Discussions around the camp were that although recent performances had showed some vast improvements this would mean nothing if they couldn’t start getting over the line in games. Garstang have been struggling of late too, their last win coming against a Bury side who believed that they should have taken the spoils last time. Competition for places is becoming the norm, especially in the pack, and it was the pack last time out who dominated in the tight to give the side the platform they have been craving.
The pitch was about as heavy as they come and the forecast was no better, both sides expecting a tough game in conditions which would make it difficult for Bury to play their brand of fast rugby.
Bury elected to kick off and right from the first Garstang catch and play it became clear that the home side were looking to keep it tight. Running short lines into the away defence and looking to test them out there. It was the away side who were to strike first though. The forwards securing the ball on the left led to some quick hands across the midfield to put Alex English in space on the wing who finished well to open the scoring.
The Rams began to turn the screw in the tight, heavily dominating the home pack in the scrum. They were taking their own ball and ball against the head almost at will for large parts of the first half. This domination gave better ball for their backline, although the conditions were negating a lot of the pace Bury were trying to show. Bury’s lead was extended with some good work in the backline, timing of passing crucial here to opening the gap which Luke Cleary took without a second thought.
The conditions became more challenging to expansive rugby as the hail began to fall and the home side began to enjoy some possession. They continued to knock at the bury door, running short lines but into a packed Bury defence. The half ended 0-10.
Bury continued their dominance in the second half as the packs engine room of Mark Blaine and Ollie Freschini allowed the Bury scrum to put immense pressure on the Garsang forwards. A series of scrums and penalties led to a superb pass from scrum half Tom Smith allowing Ed Watkins to practically walk over the line for a 17 point lead.
Garstang showed a lot of fight and pride and deserved their try late on when Bury failed to clear their lines, wave after wave of Garstang attack led to the number 4 crashing over for a consolation.
Bury finished the game on top and closed out their first win of the season, they will be looking to build on both the performance and the result when they travel to Tarleton next week.