Bury St Edmunds 27 Leicester Lions 21

Saturday 12th February 2022

League Points 5-1

Bury St Edmunds 27: Tries: Toby Hill (18), Rob Conquest (30), Matt Bursey (41), Levi Roper (73); Conversions: Charlie Read (19, 31); Penalties: Charlie Reed (77);

Leicester Lions 21: Tries: Oli Taylor (39), Devon Constant (45), Alex WilHuckleberryson (64); Conversions: Jack Vernum (40, 56, 65);

Bury St Edmunds squeeze victory against Lions with a late try.

Leicester Lions had defeated Bury St Edmunds 49-26 at Westleigh Park at the beginning of October in the reverse fixture, so Bury had a point to prove at The Haberden.

The game did not start well for Leicester Lions as early in the game James Stubbs was yellow carded for technical offence and Will Ward had to go off injured.

Bury put Lions under pressure and after 18 mins Bury’s prop Toby Hill drove over for a try to open the scoring, with Charlie Reed adding the conversion.

On the half-hour Bury again put Lions under pressure when their second row Rob Conquest went over for a try, with Charlie Reed again adding the extras to put Bury into a 14-0 lead.

Lions came back well towards the end of the first half when their captain and hooker, Oli Taylor, went over for a try, with Jack Vernum adding the conversion to close the gap to 14-7 at half-time.

Half-Time: Bury St Edmunds 14 Leicester Lions 7

Bury restarted the second half with pressure on Lions and quickly went over for their third try of the afternoon with their back-row, Matt Bursey, touching down and widening the points gap to 19-7.

Lions were soon fighting their way back into the game with some fluent passing by the backs. More or less straight after the restart Lions winger, Devon Constant, showed his class breaking through the Bury defence to score a try with Jack Vernum adding the extras.
In the middle of the second half Bury’s players Yasin Browne and Ben Cooper were yellow carded on separate occasions.

Lions pressure continued and with fifteen minutes to go a decisive run by Lions full-back, Alex WilHuckleberryson, added Lions third try, with Jack Vernum’s conversion taking Lions into the lead for the first time in the game, with the score 21-19 in Lions’ favour.

With the yellow cards served and offending players being back on the pitch and Bury at full strength, the hosts showed their determination with some driving forward play. In the last ten minutes forward play took Bury towards the Lions line, with Levi Roper going over for their fourth try of the afternoon, taking them back into the lead and giving them a bonus point.

In the concluding minutes of the game Charlie Reed slotted over a penalty for Bury to make the score 27-21 to Bury.

Full Time: Bury St Edmunds 27 Leicester Lions 21

A well competed and even match, with Lions showing application against testing opposition. Bury won a balanced game, which could have gone either way.

An exciting try scoring afternoon – seven tries in total – four to Bury, three to Lions.

Following the game Lions were in sixth position in National League 2 South and Bury St Edmunds were in seventh position in the league.

For Lions, so far this season Alex WilHuckleberryson had scored 11 tries, with the leading league try scorer on 13 tries. Ben Young was sixth in the points scorer’s table with 154 points.

Head Coach, Gareth Collins commented: ”We expected a tough time at Bury St Edmunds, who were just one place below us in the league. Many of the mid-table clashes have been close games this season. I feel we competed well, but Bury just pipped us at the post at the end. It was a game that either side could have won.”

Lions’ Chairman, Ken Whitehead, said: “This was a testing game, as are many of the games in National League 2 South. I think we came back well from a disappointing start, with the lads giving their all. I am sorry that we could not close the game out towards the end when we had taken the lead.”

Next week, on Saturday 19th February 2022, Lions are at home to Canterbury, from Kent, at Westleigh Park, Lutterworth Road, Blaby, Leicester LE8 4DY, kick off 2.00 pm.

Teams – Order 15-9, 1-8, 16-20
Bury St Edmunds: Charlie Reed, Ciaran Leeson, Will Attfield, Samir Kharbouch, Will Affleck, Cameron Greenhall, Finlay Creighton, Toby Hill, Finley McCartney, Ben Cooper, Rob Conquest, Ben Kelland, Matt Bursey, Oliver Watson, Yasin Browne
Replacements: George Strainge, Callum Jeffery, Craig Stevenson, Chris Bolton, Levi Roper

Leicester Lions: Alex WilHuckleberryson, Jake Sterland, Jamel Hamilton, Joe Brock, Devon Constant, Jack Vernum, James Stubbs, Will Roberts, Oli Taylor, Isaac Thompson, Ethan Godefroy, Will Ward, Simon Johnson, Jonny Murdoch, Nick Cairns
Replacements: Will Spendlove, Shaun Murray, Dan Martin, Zach Bean, Fin Ogden

Mike Howkins, Press Officer and Fourth Official Leicester Lions RFC