Jacob Ford says Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club ‘nowhere near good enough’ after squandering comfortable lead at home to Havant
Bury St Edmunds director of rugby Jacob Ford has said his side were ‘bitterly disappointed’ after throwing away a sizeable half-time lead at the Haberden on Saturday but believes the players will bounce back from their first home loss of 2024/25.
The Wolfpack were left reeling after suffering a painful 53-49 defeat against Havant in National League 2 East at the weekend.
It was Havant’s first-ever visit to the Haberden and they scored first from a catch-and-drive try by Cameron Boa, with Joel Knight converting.
Bury reacted to going behind with a flurry of attacking rugby, including two tries from Alex Earnshaw as well as scores from Ben Cooper, Will Metcalfe and Euan Rees.
Charlie Reed added to the total with five successful conversions out of seven attempts and also a penalty, to give the home side a big lead going into the break at 39-12, after Havant hit back with a second catch-and-drive try for Boa.
Bury started the second half on the front foot and had opportunities to extend their lead but handling errors let them down.
Havant took advantage of this and produced seven second-half tries despite missing a number of conversions, while the hosts could only muster one, with Earnshaw grabbing his third try of the game, which Reed converted.
One yellow card for Bury was followed by another one as the Wolfpack tried to hold on to their narrow advantage at 49-46, however it wasn’t to be.
Havant made no mistake from a lineout drive with a late try and a conversion to leave the final score at 53-49.
“We were obviously bitterly disappointed with the result,” said Ford. “We thought we let everyone down in terms of ourselves, the team and everyone that came to watch us. That second half performance was nowhere near good enough.
“Being 39-12 up at half time and then I think we conceded seven tries in the second half, that just doesn’t happen. But at the same time, it’s an easy fix for us from an attitude perspective.
“We’ve got a lot to prove over these next two weeks in terms of our character and fight and prove a lot of people wrong because we’ve put ourselves in this position.
“We’re looking forward to getting back in the right direction this weekend, more in terms of the performance than the result as we didn’t compete for 80 minutes on Saturday.
“We had a good training session on Tuesday but it means nothing if we don’t compete for 80 minutes against Canterbury.
Ford added: “We’re all in this together and we’re all focused on getting this right.
“It’s going to take a lot of hard work and effort but I’m fully convinced that this group of players and this environment can do that.
“I have a lot of belief in the boys and the club and that’s the most important thing. If we didn’t have that we wouldn’t have a chance so I’m really looking forward to getting this right.”
The loss leaves Bury in eighth spot with four wins from nine, with Havant just one place behind them.
Bury travel to sixth-placed Canterbury tomorrow (3pm) before they host current league leaders Tonbridge Juddians on November 23, who are yet to lose a game this campaign.
