Whetton the man for Bury in Barum slugfest

BURY St Edmunds clung on to make it three wins in a row against a spirited Barnstaple side that belied their lowly league position.

In a thrilling seven-try game, Barnstaple showed they had come to play and Barum pushed Bury for the full 80 minutes.

But the Wolfpack stood up well, holding their own in the set-piece and then looking the more dangerous out wide.

Barnstaple burst out of the traps scoring a penalty and a converted try from Ryan Carter in the first 15 minutes to which Bury could only respond with a Chris Snelling score as they trailed early.

However the Bury forwards slowly got the measure of their larger equivalents, and with Louis Whetton – son of former All Black Gary – to the fore, Bury edged their way ahead.

Scrum-half Pierre Peres leapt over a try-line maul to score Bury’s second try of the afternoon.

And that was quickly followed by Chris Lord scoring the first of his two tries.

Having opened up a healthy lead, Bury were clawed back by a determined visitors who earned themselves a penalty try on the cusp of half-time.

Lord’s second try, along with an early penalty to Scott Lyle, seemingly put Bury in safe mode.

Isaac Hydleman benefited from a midfield missed tackle to bring the scores back to 30 – 27.

But Lyle settled the hosts’ nerves moments later with a comfortable penalty.