Bury toppled by leaders

THE visitors to the Salford home of De la Salle were always going to find it hard work playing the unbeaten leaders of the league, whose only minor hiccup was the draw the previous week against Tyldesley in what we are given to understand was a bruising encounter.

Bury were also disadvantaged in so much as a breakdown in communications meant that they started without any replacement players and only 14 men on the field, and through a combination of injury and unavailability, the side bore no resemblance to that which had narrowly beaten Burnage the previous week.

It has to be accepted that De la Salle are capable of playing open, inventive and entertaining rugby. They are, however, blessed with rugby players' skills but the attitude to authority more usually associated with soccer. In a game riddled with penalties, the vast majority were for dissent and this was exemplified in the first 25 minutes when Bury took three scoring opportunities at goal, all taken by stand-off half Ian Webb, two of which were for open dissent. This resulted in the sin-binning of the openside flank forward in the first instance, and the last penalty was given for the cynical killing of the ball in a maul.

It cannot pass without comment that the referee, whether appointed specially in the light of the encounter the previous week at Tyldesley, or in his aversion to having his decisions disputed, gave nothing in the way of advantage to the home side for the first 30 minutes. Bury, amazingly for the spectators, were leading by nine points with only 10 minutes of the first half remaining.

When given the opportunity and the space, De La Salle can turn it on when necessary and a move starting inside their own 22 went the full length of the field, through at least 10 pairs of hands, before the number eight forward scored in the right corner for an unconverted try. This was followed five minutes later by a simple try when, having sucked in the cover 20m out, and with Bury one man short in defence, De la Salle scored under the posts, which was easily converted.

The home side seemed to ground the ball for another try with only one minute of normal time remaining, but the referee disallowed this on the basis that the ball had been dropped prior to grounding. As De la Salle protested, he decided to call time on the first half of the game and Bury turned three points in arrears.

The game was assisted by the referee and his policy of penalising De La Salle at every opportunity. In most cases it was fair as the stand off for De la Salle made massive gains by kicking the ball from hand and Bury were being constantly forced back on the defensive.

After only seven minutes of the second half, following a line-out some 10m out, De la Salle took the ball against Bury and shipped as far as the outside centre to link back to the blind side flank forward who crossed under the posts for an easily converted try. It is to the everlasting credit of those who played that, despite the obvious superiority of De la Salle in open play, the dogged defence of all players did not allow another score until the 30th minute of normal time, when the home side's outside flanker crossed under the posts for a converted try. Incidentally, he had spent 10 minutes in the sin bin in the first half.

What the Manchester and District Referee's Society will make of the referee's notes is problematical, but the statistics make poor reading in so much as De la Salle had three men sin-binned for 10 minutes each and in the last 10 minutes, their number eight forward was sent off, having been warned on two previous occasions. In defence of the home side, it is attitude more than foul play which resulted in these abysmal statistics.

From a score-line point of view, the De la Salle victory was well deserved, but taking a more philosophical stance, the Bury side has to be applauded for its ability to contain, if nothing else. It is a fact of life, or rugby in this instance, that some players are blessed with great skill and chose not to use this to its best advantage, while others not treated so favourably by the gods will push themselves to the very limits of fatigue and endeavour to compensate. Given the option of playing with either of the aforementioned groups, I would take the latter every time.

On Saturday, Heaton Moor visit Bury's Radcliffe Road ground for the last league encounter of the season, kick-off 3pm.

Team: Holland, C. Whitehead, Shimmons, Roberts, Graham, Robinson, Smithson, Blenkharn, Smith, Webb, Leeming, Stott, Hoffman, Boyd.