March Bears beaten on their travels at Ipswich YM

On a wet and windy Saturday, March Bears made the long trip to Ipswich YM to play for the first time under lights.

Decimated by injuries and non-availability the Bears had travelled with a depleted squad to face the second top of the league who were undefeated at home this season.

As it turned out the Bears could be proud of their defensive performance with some excellent tackling.

With a ball as slippery as a bar of soap, YM, it turned out, was less prone to mistakes than the Bears.

And with a scrum far heavier and used to working as a unit YM consistently set the Bears back on their heels at the set piece which had a direct effect on the final score and the penalty count

This was illustrated twice in the first half when within 12 minutes, with YM repeated rucks they drove the Bears back over their line for their No.8 to make an excellent touchdown with a follow-up conversion

Ipswich's second try was not converted but the pressure was unrelenting and it was not helped five minutes after this when No.7 Will Gladwin, on his excellent debut for the Bears, was yellow carded for a high tackle.

Out of the blue, a fantastic solo run two minutes later saw George Paul run over half the pitch to touch down for the Bears which enabled them to get on the scoresheet to make it 22-5.

Another converted try followed for the hosts before skipper Devan Bates became the second Bears player to spend ten minutes in the bin.

Ipswich added another try with almost the last action of the game.