In form Bury St Edmunds visited Kent on the back of fine wins against League leaders Dorking and Barnes. However, they were denied at Goddington Dene through the boot of Combe’s Toby Wallace who nervelessly kicked a penalty from the 10-metre line to level the scores at the death.

Combe led at the break with tries from captain Nick Cook, driving over the line after a line-out. Toby Wallace scored the conversion. On 20 minutes Combe were awarded a penalty try and BSE a yellow card when they offended close to the try line. Wallace then added a third try with a speedy burst down the wing and swerving past the last defender. Bury’s Wolf Pack had opened the score after nine minutes when lock George Grigg-Pettit broke through the defence to score. Two other scores from Samir Karbouch and William Attfield made the game tight at 19-17 to the home side when the half-time whistle blew.

At the start of the second period BSE struck quickly when they moved the ball through hands to score wide on the right through George Loose. Combe hit back when scrum half Ricky Gould went over taking advantage of a dominant Combe scrum. Wallace added the conversion to make it 24 points apiece.

The visitors retook the lead on the 74-minute mark when, after controlling possession and territory scored out wide when Attfield broke through a couple of tackles for his second try of the afternoon. In the back-and-forth nature of this game Combe responded when, with the clock winding down, Hugo McPherson scored off the back of a penetrating Cook break.

At 31 points all it looked as if it was all over but both teams managed to keep up the attacking intensity to exchange penalties in the final two minutes to end up all square at 34 points each.

Another high scoring match at Goddington Dene with Combe picking up another try bonus point to add to the 2 points for the draw. Bury were disappointed not to add a victory to the Barnes and Dorking scalps but in truth this could have been anybody’s game. Combe are on the road to Henley next week with Sevenoaks to visit Goddington Dene the following week