JUNIOR RUGBY ST IVES U11s entertained local rivals St Neots in two back-to-back games at Somersham Road. Ives started the first match strongly with Steffan Gosling setting the standard with some great aggressive tackling, resulting in Sam Hirons scoring a

JUNIOR RUGBY

ST IVES U11s entertained local rivals St Neots in two back-to-back games at Somersham Road.

Ives started the first match strongly with Steffan Gosling setting the standard with some great aggressive tackling, resulting in Sam Hirons scoring a well-taken try which he converted to give his side a 7-0 lead.

The home side looked very strong in the pack with Tom Stovold on top of his game but St Neots managed to get the score back to 7-7 and share the spoils.

The second match saw St Ives put out a side with many changes in personnel. St Neots stormed to a 21-0 lead at half-time. The second half saw Chris Radbone score a very good try for St Ives but Neots ran out 28-7 winners.

The U17s met more than their match at Bedford and were swept aside 53-10. Injuries in the second half didn't help and only tries by Dan Bainbridge and Greg Thurston lifted the gloom.

The U15s had a better result at Peterborough. After dominating much of the first half they fell behind before the break.

St Ives continued to play stylish rugby in the second half and gained the reward when Max Smith scored a brilliant interception try to tie the game at 7-7.

Elsewhere, Huntingdon U16s lost out 32-19 to Biggleswade in an entertaining fixture.

There were no scores in the first 15 minutes but Stags soon capitalised on two Biggleswade errors, with Mark Cox and Alex Anthony taking advantage and Tom Morgan adding a conversion.

Biggleswade replied with a penalty and an unconverted try to bring the score to 12-8 but the final action of the half belonged to Stags when Greg Southgate chipped the ball through the Biggleswade defence and ran onto collect the ball and score a converted try, giving Stags a half-time lead of 19-8.

The second half lived up to the high standards of the first, when Biggleswade brought themselves back into the game with a well worked try after 10 minutes.

Despite their advantage at the interval, Biggleswade stepped up their efforts after the break and wrested the game away from Stags.