Sat 11 Jan 2020
Buckby made the long trip down to St Ives knowing how important a game it would be. Giving themselves plenty of time to get the travel out of their legs, they would find the first team pitch out of action due to standing water. Instead the game would be moved to another pitch which was very heavy underfoot and had a strong cross field wind which would cause both teams difficulties.
The game seemed to be slow with no real momentum for either team. A penalty against Andrew Frankland for coming in the side would give St Ives the chance to kick to touch and gain some field position but the referee would deem the lineout not thrown in straight. This would become a theme for both teams and I think the referee could have taken the conditions into account for quite a few marginal decisions for both teams. Buckby would have the put in for the scrum and worked a back move through hands to the returning Dave Allen who would accelerate beyond the half way line, support was a little slow to catch up and St Ives would get the penalty decision and kick for touch. However with almost each line out getting called not straight, Buckby would win the ball back again and look to work some phases down the pitch. Ryan Clarke would use some good angled kicks to find touch using the wind across the pitch made good yards. Buckby would have to be patient in attack and disciplined in defence. Good tackling from forwards kept the St Ives attack at bay and importantly stopping any offloads. When the St Ives attack did go wide a good double tackle from Jake O’Keife prevented the St Ives full back from getting through. Fergus Murray and Andrew Frankland were throwing their bodies on the line all over the pitch. After a tiring first 20 minutes with the heavy ground and workload Chris Page would make way for Sam Evans and Dave Wardle came on for Craig Eales. Both would make a major impact on the game carrying well and winning lineouts. St Ives are always dangerous with their big carrying forwards and the 10, 12 combo stepping and jinking inside looking for ways through, the narrow pitch and ground would have suited their type of play. Buckby met them well at the gain line with players stepping up and putting that extra effort in to deny St Ives getting near the try line. Buckby found some field position after a penalty was awarded and Ryan Clarke made a good touch into the St Ives 22. After an initial shove from the forwards the backs release Jack Gibson looking for work off his wing almost finding a gap. Buckby would patiently go through the phases with carries from Jake O’Keife and Andy Oliver making good yards into the 22 getting dragged down 10 meters short. It was then the forwards took control and rumbled the ball closer to the try line with Sam Evans and Dave Wardle making valuable carries before Joe Ashwell crashed over from close range to make the score 0-5 (35 mins). The remainder of the half would see the game get played in the same fashion with no one really been able to get going in attack and a set defence would win the battles.
HT
With half time saw St Ives playing with a bit of a wind advantage, fortunately on more than one occasion St Ives would miss touches from penalties to give Buckby the chance to run back with the ball and when they did hit touch, Dave Wardle and Dan Taylor were at their disruptive best’s, winning opposition lineout ball on countless occasions. St Ives trying to get back on level terms created an overlap which looked certain to bear fruit when the 15 held onto the ball a split second too long and Jake Toseland wrapped man and ball in the tackle to prevent the try. Dogged defence would stop the St Ives march toward the try line, with Sam Dudgeon filling all the gaps in defence making countless tackles, eventually a knock on would give the ball back to Buckby and give them the chance to clear. It was now Buckby’s go to chance their arm in attack and after good forward play the ball was spun wide with Dave Allen getting on the outside and charging towards the try line with only a last ditch tackle from his opposite number preventing him from making the corner. From this area St Ives found it hard to clear their lines and Buckby would have some front foot ball, Strong carries from Tim Lewis, Andrew Frankland and Fergus Murray would set the platform with Joe Ashwell making half a break and others gained yards in the tackle but most importantly Buckby held onto the ball and creating phase after phase deep in St Ives territory. A good pass from Sam Evans gave Dave Allen the chance to get on the outside feeding the ball out to Andy Oliver stretching for the ball he would get to within a yard of putting the game out of reach of St Ives in these conditions. Been able to replace the backrows gave fresh legs for the final 20 minutes and good tackles came in to knock St Ives back in the contact. Craig Eales would be everywhere in the defensive line along with his back row partners. St Ives would throw the kitchen sink at Buckby in the final period of the game and good defensive organisation and a never give up attitude to the Bucbky defence held strong and only one occasion looked like it would be breached out wide but Jake O’Kiefe covered well to be in the right place at the right time and tackle the winger into touch. Buckby would have a Scrum on their own 22 when Andrew Frankland picked from the base and made good yards carrying to about the half way line. After this clean break neither team looked like scoring but St Ives would keep trying to stretch the Buckby defence. Things were made a little bit more difficult when Dan Taylor was given yellow with 10 minutes to go. Buckby however stuck to their task and played the final minutes of the game with ball in hand controlling the phases towards the touch line before putting the ball out of play for a well-earned victory.
FT
