March Bears let a 14-point lead slip in home defeat to Wymondham

March Bears contrived to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in their home Counties 2 Eastern Counties fixture against Wymondham at the weekend.

Playing in conditions the exact opposite of the week before, this time on a clear sunny almost windless Saturday, the Bears were left aggrieved by the referee blowing up early in the first half.

The home side were left further frustrated by the man in the middle adding very little injury time at the end of the second half, despite both sides suffering a spate of injury setbacks after the break.

The final whistle arrived with Bears on the attack after Wymondham had fought their way back into the game to lead after finding themselves 14 points down at one stage.

It started so brightly for the Bears, especially against a side who had inflicted their biggest defeat earlier in the season when, in the sixth minute, Bryn Pughsley put the ball down from a fantastic lineout take and maul over the line.

Sam Howat then converted to take the score to 7-0, much to the shock of a Wymondham side who probably thought this was going to be another easy day at the office.

After 20 minutes, a long-distance penalty by Sam Howat slipped past the left-hand post, but four minutes later a superb handling move saw Georghe Gowler cutting through the Wymondham defence for a very well-deserved try from a great Bears move.

Howat did the honours again and converted and the Bears were now 14-0 ahead.

And that was the score for the next nine minutes until the referee blew up for a premature half-time with March once more on top near the Wymondham line.

The Bears did nothing to help the outcome by failing to concentrate on the basics and repeatedly took the wrong options as the match wore on.

Wymondham though, opened up the second half looking like a different team and within two minutes had cut the score line to 14-7 with a good move from a quickly-taken penalty.

March Bears then suffered three game-ending injuries, one to Aiden Grey and then a short time later to Will Paul followed shortly later by George Paul also seeing his game ended by a leg problem

For the next 24 minutes, the score failed to move but then the Wymondham fly-half took a ball at speed and went for the left-hand corner but was brought down right in that corner which the referee deemed as high and awarded a seven-point penalty try, taking the scores back to an even 14 v 14.

In addition, the perpetrator of the high tackle George Gowler was sent to the bin for ten minutes leaving March down to just 14 men in the final part of the game.

In the seventieth minute, it looked like March had scored under the posts from a set-piece push-over try only for it to be ruled out as a knock-on.

Three minutes later Wymondham managed to completely spoil the Bears' day with a penalty after March had been deemed to close the loose off to seal a dramatic 17-14 success.