Letchworth Garden City RUFC

Every now and then you have a bad day at the office. Letchworth chose Bury for their meltdown moment and what a mistake that was. The Suffolk men took full advantage of everything on offer to put Legends to the sword.
The damage was done with a clinical first half performance by Bury which took them into bonus try territory well before half time. Letchworth, uncharacteristically, fuelled Bury’s fire with missed tackles, poor kicks and critically, managed to upset the eagle eyed man on the whistle, conceding a staggering 24 penalties in the match, compared to Bury’s two.
It was clear from the start Letchworth were not focussed, as a straightforward kick off was not claimed, allowing Bury to set up a five metre scrum. Not having touched the ball, Letchworth were down a converted try as Will Martin, Bury’s tidy fly half wandered through for the first score.
Bury had the advantage of a strong breeze. Letchworth helped them to use it by conceding those penalties with monotonous regularity. Starved of possession, Letchworth were trapped in their own half.
Just as Bury’s confidence grew, Letchworth retreated into a shell. Points were racked up on the back of a strong forward display. A missed tackle gifted the next try. Another silly penalty led to the next and a good line out and drive brought up the bonus point.
One glimmer of hope came from a Joe Shaw, Vuki combination. Joe picked up at eight and drew the cover before feeding his Fijian flier. From his own half, Vuki broke the first tackle, chipped ahead and won the foot race for a try. Alex Hughes converted.
As the break approached, Letchworth just started to get into the match. Surely the 29 7 deficit could not be reeled in, but with the elements there was that glimmer of hope.
That glimmer was quickly extinguished within minutes of the re start with Robin French taking a trip to the sin bin. Martin Kirby and Jimmy Tirrell defied the odds to get another score, but the mountain was still there to climb.
Martin stole a Bury line out to create the space for Jimmy to work. His pace took him through and past the defence for a fine individual score. That was to be the final swan song for Letchworth as collectively they struggled to get any continuity or play any patterns.
As is often the way, when you are down, the bounce of the ball will go against you. A late tackle on Jimmy T was not given and a quick penalty was called back for the sake of pedantry, but the reality was Bury had the match in a tight grip.
Gary Glencross made a supreme effort from prop to chase down Bury’s right wing and bundle him into touch. His tackle was judged illegal and he went to the bin.
With the front row now decimated, Bury administered the killer blow to earn a penalty try at the death.
Credit to Bury who barely put a foot wrong all day and Letchworth might cancel training for trip to the Psych analyst. Alternatively, put this one behind you and get ready for another good contest as fellow promotion contenders Diss visit Legends Lane this Saturday.