On a very foggy, very cold Saturday afternoon March Bears had their hardest match of the season against Cantabs from Cambridge.

Played on  a pitch in surprisingly good condition which is a testament to the time and money invested in the playing surface by March Bears over the past two seasons, this was one of the few matches to be contested in the region at the weekend.

This was never going to be an easy match between these two teams who were one and two in the league, with Cantabs having only lost once, right at the beginning of the season, and the Bears with an unbeaten record.

The Bears started the scoring in eight minutes with a kick through by Harvey Davies which bounced beautifully into his arms allowing him to speed through and go over under the posts. Sam Howat added the conversion.

The game continued with some fierce rucking and mauling and even when the ball went out to the backs there was no give at all by either side.

However, in 17 minutes, March Bears produced one of their typical recycling moves seen so often this season which saw Callum Campbell fly down the wing and touch down in the corner. This wasn’t converted .

It looked like this was going to be another display of Bears rolling up a large score but Cantabs stuck to it and in 35 minutes produced an excellent forward move cutting through the Bears defence and reducing the score to 12 v 7  which then stayed the score at the turn around.

The second half saw a very unusual situation for the Bears ,when Cantabs added a second converted try in 48 minutes when one of their subs kicked the ball through and for the first time this season saw the Bears having to contemplate to coming back from behind to win.

Both teams stuck to the task, but March Bears were unrelenting and applied themselves which saw a great back move in the sixtieth minute, with Will Paul cutting  through at speed to give the Bears a converted try by Sam Howat and putting them back in the lead at 19 v 14.

The Bears had won again,  the ninth time in a row seeing them now extending their lead at the top of the table to nines point but what a game this was, watched by the largest crowd  of the season which considering the temperature dropped to minus two degrees during the match, deserves a mention for their endurance as well.

March Bears v Cantabs 2 (Eastern Counties 1 West)

Final Score March Bears 19 v 14 Cantabs.

Man of the Match was Ben Pyle for his marvellous tackling display in the centre for March Bears.