DE LA SALLE (Salford) ... 78pts

BURY ... 14pts

WITH the above scoreline there for all to see it is hard to pick out those isolated incidents when the visitors displayed the skills required to survive and thrive in the cut and thrust of this competitive league.

DLS scored with monotonous regularity with the wind at their backs in the first period, and turned 40 points to the good with no reply from Bury.

It is perhaps ironic that Bury dominated both the set scrum and line-out but enjoyed little advantage from indifferent rucking and mauling and their three-quarter line had no penetration, coupled to a suspect defence.

Some individuals, however, were to make good tackles but the DLS side, backing up the runner, was to provide the platform for the six tries, five of which were converted that made up the half-time score.

The second-half looked as if the home side was going to run riot even now facing the stiff breeze, when with only five minutes of play elapsed a front-row donkey, in this instance the hooker, charged down a clearance kick under the post for a converted try.

This jolted Bury into life and for the next twenty minutes were able to play some semblance of co-ordinated rugby resulting in a try by stand-off Morris, converted by himself and made initially by some good passing interchanges inside the three-quarter line.

It took DLS until the 28th minute of the half to reply with an unconverted try, but this was immediately cancelled out when, from a line-out five metres from the DLS line flank, forward Bernard Robinson assisted by hooker Sammy Kelly, but playing this match at scrum-half, allowed Robinson to ghost through and Morris added the conversion.

DLS could have coasted to a clear victory but were determined to erase the memory of last season's encounter when Bury beat them on their home ground.

They decided to put their foot down, metaphorically it has to be said in this tough but not brutal game and ran in the balance of the score in the last fifteen minutes.

It would be churlish to call the referee but he did get the score wrong in the absence of any linesman from the host club. They did convert their last try which Robinson signalled to the referee but was ignored.

That is the past, what about the future. Bury have a new coaching team, led by John Hargreaves assisted by Frank James, and, judging by Saturday's performance, they have already achieved a measure of success in two areas - fitness and attitude.

There were seven changes from the selected side for reasons unknown to the writer. It is an old adage but a truism that you can not make bricks without straw and Bury need more raw material if they are going to craft a finished product.

The turnout at training is far in excess of last season and a couple of Saturday's debutantes look as if they could make it at first 15 level. This will be a season of consolidation and club chairman Christopher 'Columbus' Caloe has recruited the coaches on a three year programme looking at integration of the young development sides not up to under-17 category in the future.

Bury RUFC has the best equipped facilities in the league and a full-sized floodlit ground that would put most senior clubs to shame, all they need is the players to live up to their surroundings.

TEAM: Roberts, Bunce, Westwood, Leighton, Kennedy, Chester, Lindsey-Smith, Robinson, Kelly, Morris, Sheppey, McDonough, Wardle, Kyle, McDougall.

Tomorrow, Bury play their second league encounter at Burnage. Kick-off 3pm.