Rugby Report: Tight game sees St Ives II's in Cambs Cup

Saturday’s fixture saw a closely contested battle between the hosts St Ives and Saffron Walden in a knockout game to progress in the Cambs cup.

St Ives suffered their usual slow start with Saffron Walden scoring soon after kick-off.

St Ives brought the game level shortly after with a fantastic pick-and-go try by Shaun Mundy darting 20 meters and stepping the opposition fullback to go in under the posts.

Shaun Munday opened Ives account. (Image: Paul Cox)

The visitors then turned up the heat, picking holes in the St Ives defence to run in  three unconverted try’s before Connor O’Neill finished a well worked move to dot down in the corner at the stroke of half time. The score at the break 22-12.

The second half saw St Ives capitalise on an overlap with Pete Fahey adding another to the St Ives score line. 30 minutes of stout defence by the visitors kept the St Ives boys at bay until a fantastic piece of rugby saw Sam Vivers smash through the Saffron Walden defence to add another.

Sam Vivers levels the score. (Image: Paul Cox)

With the conversion missed, the score was tied at 22 a piece. What followed in the next 10 minutes was a nail biting thriller with both teams butchering opportunities to take the lead before dominating St Ives scrum drew a penalty in front of the opposition uprights in the dying minutes of the game. Up steps young Dan Hawkins with ice in his veins to slot the kick!

The final score: 25-22.

Captain Josh Taylor said: “What a game that was to be a part of.

To come back from a 22-7 deficit to win the game and leave saffron Walden scoreless in the second half was astonishing! Proud doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about the boys that played today. This team is really going places and building something special.”