BULLS scored five tries to charge to victory over rivals St Neots at Somersham Road on Saturday and claim local bragging rights for the second time this season.

Midlands Four East South

St Ives 34 St Neots 15

BULLS scored five tries to charge to victory over rivals St Neots at Somersham Road on Saturday and claim local bragging rights for the second time this season.

Ives took the game by the scruff of the neck at the first opportunity, with Pete Wood-Eeles storming 40 yards up the pitch, assisted by some great handling by the backs, allowing centre James Woods to score the first try.

Stuart Cornwall successfully kicked the conversion to put the hosts 7-0 up after just five minutes.

And, although the sloppy conditions made life difficult, it wasn’t long before Ives extended their lead to 12-0 when Jamie Noble fed Jim Robinson to ground his side’s second try between the hosts, which this time went unconverted.

Cornwall’s penalty made it 15-0 before the visitors got themselves back into the match, using their strong combination at nine and ten to loop and out flank the St Ives defence and score an unconverted try.

Just as they’d done in the first period, the Bulls then seized the initiative after the interval, with James Wood feeding winger Emmanuel Hovette who finished the job for try number three and Cornwall’s took care of the extras to make it 22-5.

Another wake up call for St Ives came soon enough as St Neots burst in to life, putting the phases together and created a gap to score their second unconverted try of the match to bring them back to within 12 points of the hosts.

Ives, though, continued to hold the upper hand with some flair on show from young Josh Meadows and Ollie Bartlet, was now making his presence felt amongst the front eight having replaced team elder Jon Clark.

Some quick thinking by hooker Mel Jessop led to a second Emmanuel Hovette try on the wing to make it 27-10, before crafty captain Ross Thompson found Wood who went over the whitewash, which this time Cornwall did convert.

Neots did manage to add try number three before the end, but it did little to ease the pain of another derby defeat – following on from their narrow 18-17 defeat when the teams last met back in November.

The win for St Ives means that they are fifth in the table – one place above Neots – ahead of this Saturday’s trip to second-place Stamford.

Neots, meanwhile, will be desperate to get back to winning ways when they host second bottom outfit Westwood.

> To complete an excellent day all round for Bulls, the second XV recorded an 8-5 victory at Newmarket thirds. Andy Dolby scored their try, while Dave McMinn kicked a penalty.