Bury won against a nearly unbeaten Saracens team at home in a close encounter. From the kick off Harry Couture was up so quickly he forced a scrum when the Saracens player knocked on. The opening encounters were even with both teams attacking and defending well. The first time Bury got close to scoring was when Ed Barrett kicked and was just beaten to the line by the excellent Saracens wing. Saracens kicked the ball when defending and pinned Bury back. matt hunt covered the kicks well but the Saracens pressure eventually resulted in a penalty to open the scoring after 14 minutes. Bury came back immediately and decided to run a penalty but were unable to score. Saracens attack was absorbed by Bury but the Saracens no 14 was always a danger. Bury decided to run from their own line and the last pass was loose and was picked up by the Saracens 14 who scored. Bury went into half time losing by 8 points.
In the second half Bury attacked the line but the Saracens defence was impressive, Ed Barrett and Jamie Cooke made ground but Bury could not break the final tackler. Bury fought and got close to the line but Saracens defending was impressive. The Bury pack led by Will Paske and Sean Davis kept attacking. The back row supported and played well with Ed Birrell, Ollie Blake and Joe Phillips giving their all. Saracens worked really hard all match but could not match the persistence of the Bury team and after 46 minutes Bury were awarded a penalty which matt hunt successfully kicked. Bury attacked wave after wave through the forwards and finally Sean Davis scored at 65 minutes after Saracens had a player yellow cared after successive penalties. The try was converted from a difficult angle by matt hunt to go into the lead. Bury remained resolute and defended to hold out for the win 10 – 8. Man of the match was Ed Birrell for his outstanding lineout and effort in attack and defence.
After this fine win Bury will welcome either Bishop Stortford or Dagenham on 18/03/12