Weakened Tabard take a hit at Bury

Tabard slip back in bottom two

London One North

Bury St Edmunds 55 Tabard 13

TABARD took a very much weakened side to Bury St Edmunds on Saturday and found that they were not cohesive enough in defence to begin with and this resulted in a heavy defeat by 55 points to 13. A loss Tabard could ill afford. On the bright side Bill Lake, who with his twin brother, has been improving all season, scored Tabard’s two tries with some forceful running.

To start with Tabard had the possession and territory and it looked as though they might get away with holding their own. Indeed, as a result of the opening pressure they were first on the scoreboard, after six minutes, when scrum-half Jason Dagdelenis kicked a penalty for Bury not rolling away.

Bury then had their turn at putting pressure on Tabard and Tabard found their defence was a little ragged and this was exploited by Bury throughout the first half. The Bury wing, Sutherland, got the first two tries which were unconverted and then scrum half Kretzmann scored and converted, followed by tries from full back Norry and second row Hall, both converted by Kretzmann, to put Bury 31-3 ahead.

Despite this Tabard managed to hold their game together, especially through the front five, who performed wonders in the scrum and gave Tabard enough ball to try and use but the Bury defence was good and what chances Tabard had came to no avail.

Towards the end of the half a long penalty clearance by centre Henry Mitchell gave Tabard a line out in the corner. The ball was well taken and following a controlled drive Bill Lake surged over the line for a try.

Just before half-time Norry again scored for Bury, with Kretzmann converting meaning the teams turned round with Tabard losing 38-8.

The second half was a much more stable affair with Tabard getting their defence more organised and the game was much better until the Bury centre, Burns, caught the Tabard defence too shallow and went over for a try in the 58th minute.

Tabard were still a viable force however and, after some pressure, they were awarded a penalty close to the Bury line. The ball was taken quickly and passed to Bill Lake who once again powered through the despairing defence for Tabard’s second try.

Unfortunately this was the only further try Tabard could manage whereas Bury scored two more tries through Burns and Sutherland one of which was converted, to bring up the final score of 55 points to 13 against Tabard.

Next week Tabard are at home to Colchester, kick off 2.30 pm.

Tabard: Roberts, Brady, Mead, Mitchell, Sloane, Edwards, Dagdelenis (Gough 49), B Lake (Dare 73), Hart, W Lake, O’Connor, Astley, Calnan, Stingu (Miller 70) and Hall.

Other result: Tabard 2nd XV 24 Albanians 10.