Ipswich 19 Bury St Edmunds 34

Ipswich started boldly and strongly against the talented Bury visitors but two early second-half tries gave Bury an 18-point cushion which Ipswich were unable to overtake.

Bury’s new intake of former Hadleigh players boosted the visitors’ attacking capabilities and Ipswich suffered a continuation of this season’s injury woes when mercurial fly-half Jan Van Tonder was injured halfway through the second half.

The home side led 6-0 after six minutes with two penalties from Peter LeMarquand but Bury’s powerful forwards earned them a converted try when the pack muscled over for hooker Brad James to score. Centre Craig Burrows kicked the conversion to give them the lead, and the visitors stayed ahead for the rest of the match.

On the half-hour a Bury kick-and-chase saw blindside flanker Matt Price gather and beat three tacklers to score. Burrows again converted take Bury 14-6 up.

Ipswich closed the gap again when Bury were penalized for killing the ball and LeMarquand slotted another penalty kick but minutes later Burrows took Bury 17-9 ahead.

Ipswich were stunned immediately into the second half when the defense was caught napping and a panicked clearance was gathered by Bury who scored through a two-man overlap in the left corner. Burrows missed the conversion.

Bury scored again with some excellent back play finished off by scrumhalf Stefan Liebenburg touching down. Burrows missed the conversion but Bury now led 27-9.

Van Tonder’s injury was a major blow to Ipswich but fellow South African Cristoffel Blom single-handedly shoving Bury defenders aside as he powered through the team to score near the post, though LeMarquand missed the conversion.

The Bury forwards showed their muscle again when they drove to the line from a five-metre lineout, feeding fly-half Oli Gilbert to score the visitors’ fifth try of the match. Burrows converted.

With only minutes remaining Ipswich produced a smooth team attack and flanker Seb Woods scorched through the opposition to score, LeMarquand missing the conversion to give Bury a deserved 34-19 victory.

Ipswich play Campion this Saturday at Humber Doucy Lane.

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