Under-strength March Bears put up a good fight but were eventually put to the sword by high flying Saffron Walden II on Saturday.

March, who had only 16 players in their match day squad, were competitive in the early stages but the classy visitors ran away 58-10 winners in the Eastern counties 2W encounter.

Saffron opened the scoring with two tries in four minutes to take 10-0 lead but March reduced the lead when full back Michael Croucher picked up the ball in his 22 metre area and set off on one of his trade mark runs to touch down under the posts.

Ben Brooks nailed a conversion and penalty to bring the scores level at 10-10.

Saffron Walden started to lift the pace of the game and put March under considerable pressure. The pressure told and they went in to half time 35-10 in front.

After the break, the Bears were punished for ill discipline, losing several players to the sin bin, which Saffron Walden exploited to score 23 more unanswered points.

Club president Barry Feetham said: “I Can’t fault the commitment of all the players of the field today, they gave everything and more.

“Training is now on Wednesdays we need to increase the size of our squad to cover all eventualities.”

Bears are looking to start a development side aiming at the 16 to 18 year olds.

Any youngsters who are interested in playing rugby should come along to training on a Wednesday evening at 6.45pm at Elm Road Sports Field.