Team: Noah (Captain), Big Daniel, Little Daniel, Sam, Jacob, Thomas, Kyle, Jay & Charlie.

Our first match of season saw us playing away at Rossendale in usual cloudy, muddy and rainy conditions up the valley. The game was played in an excellent atmosphere with both sides and coaches entering into the spirit of this wonderful game. We decided to let the game flow with the referee letting any knock ons etc go so that there was continuity in the match. This suited both teams as it was the first game for a lot of the players.

We had 7 genuine under 7’s so we borrowed Jay and Big Daniel from the under 8’s as it was their first game. The game started with Jay scoring straight from the kick off, Rossendale responded with some end to end rugby. Further tries from Noah, Charlie, Big Daniel and another from Jay saw Bury go into half time 5 – 4 up. For their first game it was brilliant to see such enthusiasm from the boys. Noah played a leading role as Captain continually getting his defence organised, tagging well and constantly being in the right position to collect the ball at the break down.

The second half started with some confusion as the silly coaches forgot to tell the boys about the change of ends and which way to run and pass which led to almighty chaos with players running the wrong way and forward passes galore. After a time out organized rugby ensued with some great runs from Charlie which led him to score another try. Little Daniel was very unlucky not to score his first competitive try as twice he was denied with a foot in touch and then tagged just before the line. Jay again played a leading role powering through the defence which Big Daniel took advantage off with great support play to score his second try. Kyle The Smile also had some good runs and had the misfortune of heading the ball straight into touch. Next week can his dad give him some breakfast as he was pestering the referee to stop the game so he could get a bacon butty. Jacob played well and has the potential to be a very good player, keep up the good work and concentration. Sam did some good defensive work with some tags and a really good jinky run. Further tries from Noah and Jay saw Bury come out winners 9 – 8 in a keenly fought contest.

We then asked the players if they wanted another 5 minutes and to a resounding roar which could be heard back at Bury we decided to play on despite further requests for bacon butties. Two more tries from Noah who zig zagged across the pitch to score in the corner and another for Big Daniel saw Bury lead 3 – 0 with seconds left. But there is one player I haven’t mentioned so far and his time was to come…….Thomas who has come on leaps and bounds since he started training only a few weeks ago collected the ball and scooted over in the corner to score Bury’s last try. His father looked like a Cheshire Cat on the touch line. In the spirit of the game our boys let Rossendale have the final say and they scored a length of the field try in the corner. I think our lads were concentrating more on mud pies and bacon butties.

Overall score – Rossendale 9 Bury 13
Well done boys and a big thank you to Rossendale for a good match with lots of FUN.