March Bears win thrilling rugby clash 36-31 against Thorney

Victorious March Bears took on Thorney in a highly exciting open end-of-season game on Easter Saturday.

The scoring opened with a try of individual brilliance by Bryn Pughsley in the 14th minute when, following up his own cross field kick deep into Thorney’s 22, he went over in the left hand corner.

A second try followed with Reeve Brighty making a fine angled run and Sam Howat converting to make it 12-0.

However, Thorney were not be over-run - and in the 38th minute their excellent full-back managed to outrun the March defence and go over for the first try of his hat-trick.

The conversion followed, and at half-time it was now a close 12-7.

Thorney’s second try was scored again after a good back move and their full-back bagged his second - but this was not converted, so the score was now even at 12-12.

Three minutes later, March restored their lead and George Howat - who had come on as a substitute - crashed over the line.

Thorney then received what was to be the first of two yellow cards, but this did not deter them and they soon went in under the posts to score a converted try, taking them into the lead for the first time at 17-19.

But with Thorney tiring, Bill Dean managed to score a stunning try, diving over in the corner and avoiding touching the line to put March back in the lead.

Bryn Pughsley then made a fantastic pick up and ran half of the pitch to score under the posts, sealing his very justified man of the match award.

This try was converted by Sam Howat, and now March were in the lead by 29-19.

A few moments later Thorney received their second yellow card for a head-high tackle, but again the instant response was from their full-back to run in his well-deserved hat-trick of tries.

The score was now 29-26 with five minutes to go, and in the 77th minute Reeve Brighty powered over again in the backs to widen the score to what March thought would be the final score at 36-26.

But Thorney were not finished and in the last minute crashed over in the corner to make the final score 36-31.

It was a spectacular end-to-end game of rugby, and the Bears were delighted to come away with the win.