March Bears v St Ives II (Eastern Counties Division One West) on March 2.

March Bears have won the league with three games to spare.

The Bears are still unbeaten and on Saturday that never looked like being in doubt despite having several players missing through injury and personal commitments but the squad’s strength was illuminated by this making little or no difference to the outcome on the day

After 13 minutes, March opened the score with repeated pressure by the forwards which saw Jonny Larham crash through the defence and then feed his pack which saw the ball coming back again to Larham who made no mistake and crashed over the line under the posts . Almost inevitably Sam Howat converted the opening try

St Ives were proving to be no pushovers and March were only able to add one more converted try before the half-time break which came this time from repeated back pressure on their  St Ives counterparts and Callum Campbell taking a very good angled run to score and Sam Howat followed up with the conversion.

However, just before the break the Bears gave away another penalty but this time in kicking distance of their posts and St Ives took the opportunity to put the kick over making the half-time score March 14 St Ives 3 in what was a strangely subdued period for the Bears

After the break though, March came out a different team and within two minutes Ben Pyle went over for a try again duly converted from the boot of Howat

Eight minutes later the backs with a speedy move  worked a series of great lines which saw Callum Campbell take off for his second try leaving the St Ives defence in his wake.

The extra two points were added, and so within 10 minutes of the restart the Bears were now up 28 - 3.

St Ives although being outclassed were still determined which  was to be admired and their number 10 added a second penalty in the 55th minute

A game which had been subdued in the first half was now being played at a greater tempo and in the 60th minute it erupted and one player from each side went to the bin when an unnecessary altercation broke out.

Three minutes later, Roman Kisilovs scored his debut try for the club showing great strength to get over the line and Sam Howat took the extra two points on offer.

St Ives were tiring and as seen in many games this season the Bears fitness came up trumps as Lee Kupyn took  an opportunistic ball to go over the line taking the score out to 42 -  6 after Howat again converted which meant the game was all over bar the shouting.

However in the 70th minute, George Howat was yellow carded for a scrum infringement and eitht minutes later his twin brother Sam followed him into the bin after losing an argument with the referee.

But the Bears had one final score when Stacey Mould came on as a late substitute and flew in from 2 metres over the line to leave March with both a final score of 47 - 6 and of course the League titl !

Coach Kris Jones was full of praise for his squad and said: "I am incredibly proud of each and every player who has played this season.

"We have achieved something truly special and we want that to continue with remaining undefeated for the rest of the season, we look forward to travelling to Cantabs in two weeks time."

Man of the Match was Will Penney with a fantastic non stop performance

Final score March Bears 47 v St Ives 6.