Unfazed by the heavy pitch, greasy ball and early loss of lynchpin Caolan Ryan to the sinbin, they produced an outstanding display of attacking rugby with the threequarters running in all 5 tries. 13 league wins in a row betters a club record that has stood since 1998, that each win has been accompanied by a 4-try bonus point is almost unprecedented in the National Leagues.

Ionians hit back with a late first half try but as the rain worsened and the pitch cut up the Saxons gritty 2nd half defence enabled them to comfortably defend their lead to the final whistle.

Following heavy midweek rain the Stourton Park pitch surface was heavy, as 3pm neared a light but steady drizzle started to fall driven by a light but cold north easterly breeze. The Saxons welcomed back returning old boy Chris Reakes playing at 10 for Ionians.

A scruffy kick off was caught by Drew Harper who took it into contact just outside the Saxons 22 from where it was recycled back to Ryan. Spotting acres of space in the Ionians left backfield he put up a hanging kick that came down in the Saxons midfield where Gary Dipple won the contest to secure it. He fed Nathan Bressington to his right, Nathan in turn drawing the defender to put Sam Baker free at pace outside him. Sam just about held off the pursuit until deep in the Ionians 22 where a neat overhead pass was taken by the supporting Pete White who grounded it with just 30sec showing on the Doc Dyson memorial game clock. What a start ! Ryan couldn’t convert, so 1m 5-0.

Ionians opted for a quick throw in following a kick exchange and drew a penalty for not rolling away at the tackle. Though kickable Ionians showed their intent by kicking it to the Saxons 22 from where they attempted first a driving maul and then a set of drives that were only just held out. But Mr Davies had identified multiple Saxons’ penalty offences during the passage of play and with Ionians unable to press the advantage he set his stall out very early by showing Caolan Ryan a yellow card for failing to roll away at the tackle. With a man advantage Ionians curiously opted to take the 3 points and Reakes duly obliged. 5min 5-3.

Jamie Hearn took over the restart kicking duties and following some aerial ping-pong Baker called a mark after securing a Reakes Garryowen. Ionians kicked back the ball from the disrupted lineout but it was fielded safely by Bressington and then Ionians went offside at the ruck. Pete White tapped and ran but his kick from hand wasn’t the best so Ionians took a lineout near midway but knocked on to give the first scrum which was secured by the Saxons. A Drew Harper drive from the base was followed by a number of short phases that drew an Ionians penalty for not rolling away at the tackle. It was eminently kickable and the Saxons – who in Hearn still had a frontline kicker on the pitch – might have been expected to take the goalkick to wind the clock down on the sinbin. But instead they opted to kick for the corner, from which a driving maul finally got going and drew an in the side penalty offence from Ionians. The Saxons couldn’t press the advantage offered and opted instead to kick back to the corner from where another driving maul was followed by a set of forward drives that sucked in the defence before finally Will Hurrell powered over. Hearn couldn’t convert. 15min 10-3 and back on came Ryan.

The kicking duel from the restart was won by Ryan’s deep kick into the Ionians 22, but a loose pass led to a turnover before Ionians also coughed it up by going off their feet post-tackle. Ryan found touch for an attacking Saxons lineout on the 22 but the throw was wayward and Ionians countered but also knocked near midway. Mark George snaffled the ball, displayed great vision to see some space and fed Will Hurrell to his left who in turn found Rodley in space. He intelligently delayed his pass to Hearn who was able to outgas the cover to the corner. 20min 15-3.

Ionians openside flanker then went offside from the restart, enabling the Saxons to get a maul driving from a lineout near halfway. He compounded the error by being spotted by Mr Davies going in the side of the maul near his own 22 and drew the inevitable yellow card for the 3rd such offence by his team. With the defenders a man down the Saxons somewhat inevitably kicked for the corner but fluffed their lines with a knock on. Ionians couldn’t clear their 22 but the next Saxons attack stalled when Ryan was penalised for holding on. Neither side could make much of their next set of possession, with another kicking duel following an Ionians scrum that they secured under a lot of pressure. Pete White nearly snuck through a gap in the fringe defence near halfway creating the impetus that saw Pearl pass out of the tackle to Ben Hughes who drove into the 22 and offloaded neatly to Dipple scorching up in support with just the fullback to beat. Dips’ dummy and sidestep turned him inside out and he just had enough in the tank to reach the tryline near the posts for the bonus point 4th try which Ryan converted. 32min 22-3.

The usual exchange of kicks after the restart eventually drew an Ionians offside and though Ryan’s kick failed to find touch it was returned infield enabling George to make another of his impromptu kicks ahead to find touch near the Ionians 22. Ionians persisted with their infield kicking tactics and eventually made it to the Saxons 22 where some unusually sloppy midfield defence was recovered by a Pete White cover tackle. A Saxons scrum just outside the 22 necessitated an infield Pete White clearance kick that didn’t look especially threatening but wasn’t secured by the Ionians left winger as it came down near the Saxons 10m line, instead bouncing straight into the hands of the pursuing Will Hurrell who ran over 50m to score in the right corner. 37min 27-3.

The Reakes’ restart was secured but the pass was fumbled and a scrum conceded just inside the Saxons 22. Ionians moved it right then left where their scrum half was in support to scamper over to score a try to wipe the smiles off the faces of the Saxons’ coaching staff, just as they were putting the finishing touches to their halftime team talk. Half time 27-10.

The pitch had held up pretty well, but the intensity of the drizzle suddenly increased as the winter gloom descended during the interval. Ionians demonstrated a change of game plan by running the kick off back with ball in hand, reaching halfway before a knock on conceded a Saxons scrum. The Saxons were free-kicked for an early engage though but Ionians’ tap & go failed to penetrate the defence and they were obliged to trade kicks. Ionians were securing their lineout ball by throwing it to their 2 jumper but this gave their backs few options with the ball being slow and defence aligned. A couple of early Ionians penalties gave the Saxons field position but the attack stalled due to a forward pass.

A penalty for side entry at the tackle enabled Ionians to kick to the Saxons 22, and though their first drive was forced into touch they stole the Saxons lineout ball and regrouped their attack, eventually forcing a maul over on the hour mark for a converted try. 60min 27-15.

Play became increasingly littered with errors as the replacement benches emptied and conditions deteriorated, and rarely reached either 22 in the final 20 minutes as a midfield stalemate developed. Despite Ionians excellent ball retention they were simply unable to unpick the hardworking Saxons defence again and the game finished without further significant incident. Full time 27-15.

Coach Mike Umaga commented ‘With the half time lead and the weather worsening we didn’t want to try anything fancy so we kicked to the corners and trusted our defence. The team deserve credit for a very composed 2nd half performance under a lot of pressure, Ionians showed a good 2nd half attacking skill set but we were pretty sharp ourselves before the break. We’ve not had the best of starts in recent games but today was outstanding, we turned up right from the kick off’.