NORTH LANCS/CUMBRIA

Kirby Lonsdale...15pts Bury...15pts

By MIKE JONES

ON a beautiful sunlit day, it was hard to believe that it was really mid-September in the north.

Bury fielded a side with seven changes from last Saturday and, it has to be said, it did not look good on paper.

Notwithstanding this, Kirby should not have posed a problem. Their reserves are obviously depleted as they were unable to send a second XV to Bury and, having celebrated the anniversary of their 125th year of existence throughout the previous day and night, they should have been swept aside.

Bury laid siege to the Kirby 22 for the first 15 minutes, but were unable to score. The home side only got into the Bury half after 17 minutes, courtesy of two poor refereeing decisions, to score an unconverted try.

Bury replied three minutes later with a converted penalty from 30 metres out. In the absence of Ian Webb, who will not play again this season having sustained a double fracture of the jaw last Saturday, kicking duties were taken over by Bernard Robinson, an unrecognised talent as a kicker both out of hand and from dead ball positions. His grounding as a soccer goalkeeper being forgotten by some.

Kirby were to score another unconverted try in the 30th minute, both their scores in the first half came despite playing up a pronounced slope.

Almost immediately after the interval they were to score yet another try and with a 12-7 deficit and 32 minutes of the match remaining, defeat was staring Bury in the face.

However, the players dug deep into their reserves and fashioned an unlikely draw from nothing.

Talent without commitment is useless, commitment without talent is to be admired, but is not productive. Given a smattering of the former and a mass of the latter, strange things happen, and so it was to be.

Bury were determined not to concede any more points and the defence was outstanding. First team newcomers Liam McDougall at scrum half and Dion Ormerod at full back shone.

With Paul McGarrity and Mike Livesey both playing out of position, coupled with Andy Leighton at flank, Bury were to have a platform for their secret weapon, centre Andre Botha, to score in both the 50th and 60th minutes.

Robinson converted the first try, but missed the second by inches. That put Bury level with 20 minutes to go, but, despite all their efforts, they were unable to add to the score and the game ran out as a draw.

Special mentions for props Dave Tattersall and Gavin Dixon, who both returned after long absences, but considering everything.

BURY: Tattersall, Kelly, Shimmons, Roberts, Kennedy, Robinson, Fawcett, Westwood (cpt), McDougall, Livesey, Fielding, Garrity, Botha, Wardle, Ormerod. Replacements: Dixon, Leighton.

On Saturday Bury entertain Ormskirk at Radcliffe Road (kick-off 3pm) in their first cup match of the season.