By Adam Hunter

Bury St Edmunds had wrapped up the bonus point before half-time in a festival of tries at Bournemouth on Saturday.

The Suffolk side came to Chapel Gate 6^th in National Two South and boasting a blistering back line on try-scoring form.

Head Coach, Mike Pope, had prepared the Lions defence for the onslaught.

“We knew they had a very dangerous back three, so we planned to push them wide so that if they did score it was in the corners,” he said. “We did well, but to be fair they managed to play around us.”

The outside backs wasted little time, as wing Ciaran Leeson took an inside pass from fly-half Kodie Drury-Hawkins and beat four defenders to open his team’s account on 5 minutes. Drury-Hawkins added the extras. Soon, full-back Will Affleck capitalised on a quick penalty by number-eight Matt Bursey to cross for the second, not converted, followed 5 minutes later by another for Leeson. Drury-Hawkins was successful this time to extend the away team’s lead to 19 points unanswered with a quarter of the game gone.

Bournemouth steadied the ship, tightening the midfield defence and controlling more possession.

“We were pretty solid in the middle,” said Pope. “We used two-man tackles to wrap up the ball and slow them down. It worked well.”

Bournemouth scored their own 2 minutes before the break through number-eight Ryan Hughes, with Grant Hancox adding the conversion. But their moment was short-lived as Bury flanker Tom Milosevic sealed his team’s bonus point a minute later. Another miss from the tee for Drury-Hawkins left the half-time score at 7 – 24.

The second period began as the first had finished, with Bury piling the pressure on the Bournemouth line. Scrum-half Jack Harvey darted over for Bury’s fifth, though Drury-Hawkins continued a day to forget with the conversion attempt.

Again, Bournemouth managed to stabilise, and the game remained between the 22s with the defences on top and both teams using their strategic kicking games.

“We won the second half, but made a few errors at the line-out and in our basic skills which was really disappointing,” Pope admitted.

But the Lions man picked some positives from his team’s display.

“We were close to walking in try but were pulled back for forward pass, but did well to get into that position, and we scored three,” he noted.

Lions scored their second through sub-hooker Joe Spiller on 67 minutes, and Hancox converted. But it was déjà vu for the home fans as an immediate lapse in concentration gifted the visitors a try in reply, replacement Mike Stanway stretching the lead to 34 – 14 going into the final 10 minutes. Bournemouth, chasing a bonus point that could be vital in their battle for survival, scored a short-range effort after several phases through lock Toby Kenneally, with Hancox converting.

That would be it for the home supporters, who had been treated to end-to-end action and none tries, but perhaps saw their team slip closer to relegation.

Despite the score against a team challenging the promotion places, there was plenty to celebrate for a young team decimated by injuries in recent weeks.

“Alan Manning was incredible was always,” said Pope. “It was great to see Ben Russell back from concussion and an ankle injury, James Griffiths made a serious impact from the bench.”

Bournemouth remain nine points form safety at the foot of the table, and were not helped by Old Redcliffians who earned a losing bonus point at home to Leicester Lions. Defeat against Barnes next weekend could all but seal their fate.

“We’re still at bottom of the table,” Pope notes. “Survival is not unachievable mathematically, but the message to the boys is to focus on performance.”

And the talk around the club has begun to shift from improving week-to-week to developing young players and preparing for the future. Performances will be key in the final weeks of the season, and that began on Saturday.

As Pope says, “We are proud of that performance but were beaten by the better team today.”