Bonus Point Against Keynsham

St Ives 42: 22 Keynsham

On a bright January afternoon at Alexander Road St Ives took on a strong Keynsham squad.

A minute’s silence was held for JD Stevens who passed away this week.

Keynsham started well and used the wind advantage to pin the Hakes into the corner.

Within the first few minutes Keynsham had a penalty kick which went wide. Shortly after the restart they attached via the forwards and squeezed over in the score board corner for a try - not converted.

The Hakes came straight back at the visitors and started to attack the opposition from various areas of the field. Good running from Martyn Lawrance, ‘birthday boy’ Ben Taylor and Ben Jenkins all carrying well, managed superbly by the ever present Rhys Brownfield at fly half.

It took some time, but eventually the Hakes got the better of the powerful visiting pack and in true St Ives fashion they started to build a comfortable score with dominance in the pack and out wide.

The well drilled Hakes pack dominated at the set piece and controlled the ball well to ensure the score continued to increase.

The Hakes were 20 points to 5 up at the break with tries from Ben Jenkins, Rhys Brownfield and four kicks from the boot of Dan Magee, a much needed return to form.

Shortly after half time the home backs opened up the defence with some strong running from Martin Lawrance, Pete Mabbott and Jack Kessell.

The open running rugby was too much for the visitors who looked tired and had lost a couple of significant players to injury in the first half. Further tries came from firstly, Jack Kessell, converted by Magee. Jamie Prisk shot over from a driving maul again converted by Magee.

The final quarter saw the visitors come back into the game and this provided their best spell scoring three tries to collect a bonus point on the road. This is not the first time The Hakes have allowed an ‘open door’ in the last quarter.

The St Ives coaching staff made some changes and brought on all the replacements; Leigh Hocking, Sam Vernon replace two of the front row, with Adam Hocking taking over from Rhys Brownfield at 10, who moved to inside centre. The final score from St Ives came from the hard running Pete Mabbott, who continues to add to his try tally week on week.

St Ives have started the New Year well with two home matches against varied opponents.

This Saturday sees the biggest test for the Hakes who travel to league leaders Launceston for the third meeting of this season.

Your support at Launceston will be most welcome.

Squad

Ben Taylor, Connor Bick, Ben Jenkins, Jamie Prisk, Ben Watson, Jamie Hosking, Aden Brassington, Martyn Lawrance, Sam Carter, Rhys Brownfield, Peter Mabbott, Grant Thirlby, Tom Nicholas, Dan Magee, Jack Kessell.

Replacements: Sam Vernon, Leigh Hocking, Adam Hosking (all used)