Bury St Edmunds head coach Jacob Ford admits disappointment and frustration at way season ended
After finishing on an away defeat, Bury St Edmunds head coach Jacob Ford admitted there was disappointment and frustration at the way their season concluded but believes they will be stronger from it heading into 2024/25.
The Wolfpack’s final game in National League 2 East on Saturday could be said to be emblematic of their campaign, having raced into a 21-7 lead by half-time at Old Albanians before faltering thereafter, eventually losing 28-26.
Likewise, a strong start to the campaign had seen Bury head into the festive break challenging at the top of the table with just two defeats in 13 matches and on course for a best-ever finish inside the top four.
But after returning in January with a pair of victories, a run of seven straight defeats then followed to slide them down the table with two wins from their last four leaving them finishing sixth, one place lower than last term.
"I think we’re all pretty disappointed, especially with how the second half of the season went,” said Ford.
"To be in the mix around January competing at the top of the league to losing seven in a row and then finding ourselves in a position where we’re not in that top four or the mix is pretty disappointing considering the performances we put in and the results we got before that.
"It is frustrating but like I’ve said previously, it’s a massive learning for us as a group. And when a similar situation comes around we’ll be prepared for it and take the learnings from last year.”
On Saturday, five of the six confirmed departing players were making their final appearance for the club.
Will Christie’s last game before returning to Australia was cut short 10 minutes in with a head injury that required stitches.
But captain Matt Bursey, who is also going out to play in Australia where Kodie Drury-Hawkins is also returning to, bowed out with three tries, claiming his hat-trick in the 48th minute.
And with Harry Simpson, Ollie Saddleton and Harry Barker also leaving for pastures news, Ford admitted they will be a big miss.
He said: "They’ll be incredibly missed from Bury but we wish them all the best in the next stage of their careers and lives as well.”
George Grigg-Pettit’s converted try had opened the scoring with Bursey touching down their next three.
But it was then the St Albans-based side who dominated and went on to claim victory after converting their final try in the 64th minute.
"It’s one of those games where we probably should have won, we lost on a conversion but it was a good performance in the first half, we just ran out of gas a little bit in the second,” said Ford.
After their rest, the players are due to return for pre-season training on July 2.
On Sunday, Liam Leeson’s Bury St Edmunds Women’s side ended their Women’s Championship Midlands 2 campaign on a high at the Greene King IPA Haberden with a 33-14 victory over Shelford leaving them finishing third.
The game was also notable for Lucy Kerr becoming the first player to ever reach 100 caps for the club’s women’s first XV.
Leeson said: “This is no mean feat for any player, but this is especially impressive in the women’s leagues which contain far fewer fixtures per season. It’s a fantastic achievement that comes after over 11 years of first XV league rugby.”
