March follow up derby success over Wisbech by beating Fakenham

March Bears followed up their derby success over Wisbech with a 34-29 win over Fakenham at the weekend.

The Bears showed fantastic drive and it has to be said the final score flattered the opposition after two late tries.

March were awarded a penalty in the ninth minute from a lineout and with a fast feed from the loose saw George Paul carve through the defence to go over for the first score, adding the extras himself.

But Fakenham fought back and after 15 minutes repeated ball from their ruck eventually created an overlap on the left and their winger went in for an unconverted try.

Then against the run of play, Fakenham broke from defence with their impressive full-back eventually feeding his centre which saw Fakenham go over for a second try and they added the extras.

But this period saw a flurry of action when the ball was stolen from Fakenham’s maul which Henry Mair took full advantage of and powered through for March’s second try, which Paul again converted, to give the Bears a 14-12 lead at the break.

A penalty two minutes after the restart handed Fakenham a one-point lead but that lasted for three minutes when they were penalised for coming in from the side leaving Paul to slot over another penalty for March

Four minutes later the gap started to widen when two of the Fakenham backs managed to get in a complete tangle from a kick through and Paul seized on this to scamper through and under the posts for a converted try.

Fakenham were now giving away repeated penalties as they struggled to contain March.

After yet another penalty, Devan Bates supported by his scrum crashed over for another bonus point try taking the score to 31-15 with eight minutes to play

Four minutes later yet another infringement by Fakenham saw Paul belt over another penalty from a distance.

March held a 19-point lead and this lasted until the 76th minute when the hosts were yellow-carded.

Sitting back, the Bears allowed two counter-attacks in the last four minutes to concede converted tries to Fakenham but with the last of those being deep into the overtime red zone there was never any chance of the visitors snatching a dramatic win.

Man of the Match was Callum Campbell, who threw himself into tackles which saw him taken off twice due to injuries but who refused to give in.