IT was a historic day for Halstead Templars Rugby Club as they played their first ever game of second team rugby.

Their opponents were Bury St Edmund’s fourths and the game resulted in a 29-24 win for the Suffolk side.

With three late call offs and one no show, the Templars travelled with just 11 but Bury, in the spirit of the game, lent the men in black the players needed to even up the sides.

The game started brightly for the Templars, skippered by veteran Phil Foster, when, with ball in hand they looked dangerous attacking through surging runs from the forwards and quick ball spun wide to the backs.

It was in the set pieces that Bury had the upper hand and would continue to for the duration of the game.

The Templars had to change their line out options several times and, at scrum time, they did well to hold the well-drilled Bury side.

The game ebbed and flowed for the first 15 minutes with both teams finding their feet and getting used to playing with new faces when the Templars managed to get the ball quickly through several pairs of hands to newcomer Elliott Wincott on the wing.

He skipped through a number of would-be tacklers to find some free space and once he had clear air in front of him he was never going to be caught, finishing off a superb solo effort by scoring the first try under the posts.

Jack Pawsey, playing his first game of the season following an injury, knocked over the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Bury’s reply came five minutes later, though, as they scored an unconverted try and less than ten minutes later, the hosts took the lead with almost a carbon copy of their first try.

The conversion was missed again as Bury led 10-7, but it was Halstead who were on the scoreboard next.

Ed Merry pounced on a Bury error and his mazy run got well inside the home 22, before, with Joe Harrison on his shoulder he offloaded, and Harrison bundled his way over the line.

Pawsey was unsuccessful with the conversion in the high wind, but the half-time score saw Halstead 12-10 ahead.

Bury swapped their loaned players at half-time and Halstead had to get used to new faces once more, but any disruption was shrugged off by the Templars and they still looked very effective with the ball in open play.

However, Bury scored next as their effective number eight burrowed his way over for a try after just five minutes and the conversion opened a 17-12 lead.

Halstead once more fought back, though, and when eventual man-of-the-match Elliott Wincott was only stopped by a last ditch tackle, Dylan Moss charged over the line to level the score at 17-17.

It didn’t take Bury long to open up a gap again as a converted try put them 24-17 ahead, but a penalty was awarded to Halstead and while the Bury pack were looking for the reason why, Pawsey and Moss combined for Moss to jog under the posts unopposed.

Pawsey’s conversion once more brought the sides level with a little over ten minutes to go, but Bury had the last say as they span the ball wide with Halstead well out of position, and although, the hosts couldn’t convert, the try put them 29-24 ahead with a lead they held on to until the final whistle.

Halstead’s next second XV game will be a cup match in the Essex John Adler Trophy with the draw to be announced soon.