North travelled to Bury on Saturday to face a side one place above them in the league table. They travelled without powerhouse Dave McCarrick and were still without youngsters James Hyland, Matthew Wallace and Paul Marsh-Heywood due to injury, but fielded a very strong side with youth and experience all over the park.

The visitors started like a house on fire and within the 1st minute were ahead due to excellent rucking by the north forwards, in particular by Kevin Green who snatched the ball and passed to Steven Donoghue. He out paced his opposite winger to score in the corner and Eady added the conversion to make the score 7-0.

Foul play by the North forwards in their own half meant that the Bury fly half had the opportunity to get his team on the scoreboard. He stepped up and converted the penalty from 40 yards out to make the score 7-3 with 10 minutes played.

A few minutes later a maul was set up 30 metres out from the Bury try line. Ross Barnes-Gott used his strength and technique to rip the ball from the opposition’s hands and he fed captain Gary Pugh who broke the first line of defence. He then raced towards the try line and was caught by the fullback who couldn’t wrestle the second row to the ground. He dived over to make the score 12-3. The conversion was missed.

The game evened out for a 10-minute period where both sets of backs tested each other with set plays, pace and power. In the end it was Aaron Duoba who turned this spell in North’s favour with some excellent tackling and running from his wing. He carried the ball over the half way line and was tackled 40 metres from the whitewash. A maul was set up and Chris Taylor spun off and carried the ball through the defence, handing off the covering defenders to score under the posts. Eady successfully kicked the conversion to make the scores 19-3.

The North Defence were caught knapping and Bury scored a simple try from the side of a ruck. The big prop forward crashed through the gap to score under the posts. The conversion was added to leave the scores 19-10.

Chris Taylor grabbed his second minutes later from a set play from the back of the scrum. He exchanged passes with scrum half Andy Donley and he sped through the gap to make the score 24-10. Eady converted once again to make the scores 26-10 with 5 minutes left in the 1st half.

Throughout the 1st half Scott Danby was excellent from fullback, with some pinpoint kicking when under pressure from the Bury defence. It was his kick that gained North field position inside the Bury half. The lineout was stolen and the forwards set up a maul. They drove towards the line and hooker Luke Corrigan peeled out of the back and palmed off four defenders only to be met by the fullback. He cleverly offloaded to Chris Taylor who scored his hat trick and boosted his tally for the season to challenge Steven Donoghue and Faisel Tajini at the top of the leader board. Eady added the conversion and North went in 33-10 leaders at half time.

The second half was very different with both teams struggling to keep the ball under control for any length of time. Bury broke the stalemate with a well worked try from inside their own half. They created an over lap and moved the ball out wide to exploit the space, which resulted in a try in the corner by the winger. The Bury fly half converted to make the scores 33-17.

North sealed the victory with a contender for try of the season. Steven Donoghue caught a kick on his own line and ran through gap after gap, tackle after tackle until finally offloading to Chris Taylor midway inside Bury territory. He then unselfishly returned the favour to Luke Corrigan who dived under the posts to make the scores38-17. Eady added the conversion to make the scores 40-17.

North debutant Mike Kelly slotted in at fly half for the remainder of the game. The ex Liverpool JMU student looked composed at number 10 making tackles and releasing players all over the field. Substitutes Kyle Bullows and Colin Meredith made a big impact when they came on but failed to make any change to the score.

There were many contenders for man of the match including Chris Taylor for his devastating breaks and Aaron Duoba for his textbook tackling, but the Fieldings Porter solicitors’ man of the match goes to Steven Donoghue for his strength and pace from his wing.