Shortstaffed St Ives show fight in heavy defeat at Stamford

Following late withdrawals, it was always going to be a tough ask for the Bulls who travelled without a bench, who gave Lewis Olivier his debut alongside father Rob.

St Ives debutant Lewis Olivier prepares for a scrum (Image: Paul Cox)

There was no sign of players being in unaccustomed positions as Ives pinned Stamford back with positive, driving play and the defence finally cracked as Marc Tirant drove through a pair of tackles to open the scoring.

St Ives' Marc Tirant drives for the line at Stamford (Image: Paul Cox)

For the reminder of the first quarter the match was evenly contested, until a stroke of fortune gave Stamford the chance to score. A charged down kick bounced kindly and, whipping possession wide, the hosts outsprinted a stretched defence.

Unfortunately, a missed tackle at the restart meant Stamford had two tries in as many minutes.

The home side worked a good lineout move to score a third, before an injury to Sam Vivers who had been prominent in defence and attack, meant the Bulls were down to 14 for most of the match.

Tom Woodrow secures lineout ball for St Ives at Stamford (Image: Paul Cox)

As the half closed, Stamford were surprisingly allowed a try as the Ives defence awaited respite for a clear jump in a tackle. Play continued and the score counted to make it 26-5 at the break.

Ives endured a torrid 10 minutes at the start of the second half as Stamford made the most of the extra man and rotated their bench to good effect to score three unanswered tries.

The rest of the game was notable for the sheer determination of Ives to get something from it.

The seven-man pack was immense in the set-piece, securing good ball for the backs to attack, but the last phases were not quite on point and Stamford had to defend strongly.

As the clock wound down, the Bulls clearly began to tire but they showed tremendous defence across the park for a long period until Stamford finally added gloss to the scoreline late on.

Head coach Paul Humphreys said: "The XV available that travelled to Stamford can hold their heads high. They battled with courage, desire, hunger and we asked them to enjoy it.

"It’s not often teams that lose will get the praise they are due in forcing the opposition into mistakes and errors. We did this time and time again and that’s a credit to the desire and determination of the team.

"The final score hurts but this is washed away with the pride in the effort the lads displayed. Stamford awarded George Peacock man-of-the-match, which was deserved. But honestly, it could have gone to any of the other 14 players such were their efforts.”