In terms of participation, we had another fine weekend with the first, second and third teams all fielding sides.

The seconds went down at home to their league leaders March, 10-49.

The thirds travelled to Cantabs, losing by a fine a margin, but they were all delighted to don their boots (some for the first time in years).

The first team travelled down the A1 and lost 44-0 at Biggleswade.

Head coach summed up his thoughts: “What a difference a week makes…. “Biggleswade had a point to prove and they did! They stuck to their game and executed it very well.

“We were off the boil from the warm-up. They ran hard and we stood back, which is pretty much the story of the game for me.

“How we dust ourselves off and respond will be a challenge for me, but also the players. They hurt as they know they were not at their best! Having said that, not all doom and gloom. We played well in patches and had Biggleswade on the back foot, not often enough.”

Late withdrawals, including in the warmup, caused major disruption to the preparations for St Ives. Kudos to those who lined up for the seconds and made the dash to Biggleswade to bolster the squad.

Whilst the score was eight tries to nil, the match was not one-way traffic. Biggleswade got off to a great start with a well-connected attack eventually created an overlap to score.

Their second came in similar fashion on the other side of the park.

Ives made their own attacks but could find no way through the motivated home defence.

As the half progressed, Biggy ran in two more tries to secure the bonus point and lead 22-0 at the turn round.

The Bulls put in a better performance in the second half with some good passages of play which came to nought.

Biggleswade were more clinical in attack and as the game drew to a close their two further tries were fair reward for their efforts.

From the visitors’ perspective, an unfortunate gloss was added for the hosts when they ran in two tries in the last three minutes against a tiring Ives defence.