Old Bedians V Bury

Opening day win for travelling Rams

Bury travelled away to Old Bedians during the first week of the new season hoping that their new league transfer would go well and they could be competitive in their new league. The Rams have moved across to South Lancs and Cheshire League structure as the Lancashire Leagues themselves have ceased to exist.
A scorcher of a day greeted the travelling Bury team, but conditions which would allow both teams to try and play with ball in hand. Old Bedians finished third in the league last time out and would provide tough opposition.
Bury started the brightest, off the back of a good pre-season the pack looked sharp, everybody wanted the ball and were keen to get involved. During the opening exchanges they looked he fitter and quicker of the two sides moving the ball well across the park testing the defence out well.
The Rams opened their seasons account early by breaking the deadlock, good work from the forwards saw Swinburn dive over the line for a converted try. Further tries from Holland and Green saw Bury look strong.
A change in the front row saw Cameron Bagnall leave the field for a head injury assessment to be replaced by Ollie Pomfret. Bury continued their good work around the park, Ben Holland the Bury number 8 making a number of good breaks cutting straight through the home sides line.
Bury freshened their team up for the second half, but it was Old Bedians who made the first impact on the scoreboard. Some good work by the home side’s fly half allowed pressure to be exerted between the Bury wing and fullback and saw the Bedians 13 dot down well over the line. The home side were back in it.
Old Bedians continued to exert pressure, especially on the Bury pack, who were looking tired already, the pitch and the conditions clearly taking their toll.
But it was the Rams who were to extend their lead scoring twice; a fantastic lineout by Bagnall saw a quick driving maul pushing over the line to score well, a real forwards try!
Following that a great passage of play down the right saw fly half Adam Heath provide prop forward Tom Ogden with the ball 25 metres out. He charged over the line to score in the corner.
At 32-17 up, Bury looked home and hosed, but two scores by the home team had the Rams clinging on in the end, happy to hear the final whistle at 32-31.
If they are to make an impact in this league they must improve on the performance defensively and at times in attack too, but they showed great passion and heart to deliver a tough win against tough opposition, the first opening day win in four years. The Rams look to make it two wins out of two on Saturday as they entertain Eagle at Radcliffe Road, kick off 3pm.