Albanians spent the summer haemorrhaging players and it was with trepidation some of the more experienced spectators contemplated a match against a club which had done the double over OAs last year.

They needn’t have worried as the young home outfit came good, scoring 6 tries to 3 against a larger Bury side.

A relatively small pack fared better than expected in the tight elements of the match despite and the possession gained was well used throughout the afternoon. Defence was mostly solid and gritty tackling in all departments kept the visitors’ scoring opportunities to a minimum.

But it was in broken play where Albanians were strongest and the back row took the lion’s share of the plaudits here. Conor Gracey, Kay Minkiewicz and rampaging Oliver Stonham were a constant menace to the Suffolk men.

Outside the scrum, Morgan Thompson efficiently fed fly-half Joe Butler who allowed centres Nico Defeo and Dan Watt sufficient time and space to pressure the Bury defence all day. There is speed and strength in this squad and this result can only breed confidence.

Aaron White Martinez crossed in the twelfth minute and he was followed by Ned Warne and Butler before the half-hour. Thompson ended a sparkling break and earned the bonus point before the interval. Defeo and Watt added two tries in the second period, Watt notching four conversions for a personal tally of thirteen points.

Ben Leng’s first-half effort was added to by Jack Harvey and Seb Dusi, Max Machin converting the first of these.

Head Coach James Buckland was happy with his charges’ performance especially since there are improvements to be made before the journey to Leicester next week. “It looked like a good one to play in!” he said.

Brian Quinn,

Press