St Ives suffer huge loss against Northampton Casuals

The game got off to the worst of starts as the kick-off drifted into touch, according to the touch judge.

From the scrum restart, Casuals pushed the ball to the left wing for the simplest of scores. If that wasn't bad enough, an Ives high tackle from the restart and Casuals repeated the move for their second score and Ives were 14 points down after five minutes.

The home side then had a period of possession in the Casuals' half, but were unable to make the territory count as, in an attempt to force the play, dropped balls and inaccurate passing turned the ball back to the visiting side.

Another Bulls indiscretion enabled Casuals to clear their lines and kick the ball deep into the Ives 22, from the resulting lineout the inevitable happened and Casuals were now 19 points up.

With the 30-minute mark ticking over, Ives had yet to find any fluency to their game and were enabling their guests to have a leisurely afternoon. Finally, Ives were able to put together a few phases, but as the defence parted the ball was, yet again, put to ground.

Action from the game as John Paxton fends off the Casuals defender. (Image: Paul Cox)

Rubbing salt into the wounds another lineout in the 22 provided a further opportunity for Casuals which was duly taken for the final score of the half and a 24-point lead.

The second half started with Ives breaking down the right but Casuals were relieved to be given a penalty for holding on - the ball, however, didn't manage to reach touch and The Bulls were able to capitalise as the ball went across to the left wing and then back through the hands to release Max Flint who skipped over to put the home side on the board.

This led to a sustained period of pressure from the home side and some persistent infringing from the visitors eventually the pressure told as Elliott Mortimer slid in for Ives second score. Ives now trailed 24-10.

Ives were building momentum with the visitors struggling to get out of their half but, infuriatingly, the pressure was relieved as Ives gave away a string of penalties to give the visitors an easy escape route.

From their first visit to the Ives half in the second period they had the double boost of Ives infringing and losing their captain to a yellow card and three points from the penalty.

Desperate for points, St. Ives gave up more penalties and heaping pressure on themselves with Casuals taking full advantage to claim another try.

Once more Ives pushed to restore some pride, but from deep in their own 22, Casuals went the length of the pitch for their final try of the day, but the scoring was completed with a further penalty to complete the rout and take back a 42-10 victory to Northampton.