Wolfpack Country: A National One weekend at the Haberden
Mark Ashcroft ticked off another National League Rugby ground having visited Bury St Edmunds
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Mark Ashcroft headed to Suffolk to watch Bury St Edmunds take on Rosslyn Park in their first season at Level 3 - whilst also having one eye on Sedgley Park's comeback at Preston Grasshoppers.
This article is adapted from "Wolfpack Country: a Bury St Edmunds weekender", first published on Mark's Substack, Seniormash Reflections (markashcroft.substack.com).
A new chapter in Suffolk
There's a version of a rugby weekend that starts on a motorway and ends up closer to a pilgrimage. Karen and I set off on a Thursday, stopping in Huntingdon and Newmarket on the way to Bury St Edmunds, and got home on the Sunday - though not quite in the manner we'd planned.
The draw was National One rugby. Bury St Edmunds earned promotion by winning National Two East lasty season, and every home game at the Greene King IPA Haberden this season is part of a new chapter for the club.
I've watched Sedgley Park in National One over the last few years and seen them struggle at times. The travel, the weather and keeping a squad fit all take their toll. In my opinion, though, discipline is the deciding factor. At this level, a game can be tight for an hour, and one yellow card can change the dynamic and the result.
Bury St Edmunds 14 Rosslyn Park 42
In this Round Eight encounter, Bury held firm for the first 20 minutes. Once Rosslyn Park broke through, they were clinical. Charlie Coe crossed twice and Jake Cleet added a third, all converted by Rory Jennings, for a 21-0 lead at half-time.
Bury responded after the break. Matt Hicks finished a well-worked maul, converted by Ben Penfold, and Clark Macfarlane added a superb individual try. But Park kept scoring too. Connor Byrne went over, and replacement scrum-half Ewan Fenley added two more.
It finished 42-14 to the visitors - a difficult afternoon for the home side, but it didn't lessen the value of being there. A result tells you who won. Being at the ground tells you a little more about the club, its supporters and the place it represents.
More than a ground
The Haberden carries memories well beyond any match. In 1974, eighteen members of Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club were among those killed in the Ermenonville Air Disaster, returning from a trip to Paris. The club continues to remember them as part of its history.
The ground has also been a starting line for something bigger. Last year, Kevin Sinfield began his 2025 "7 in 7: Together" challenge from the Haberden, raising support for people affected by motor neurone disease.
Earlier in October, I'd been at Old Trafford when Sir Kev was applauded by more than 70,000 rugby league supporters at the Super League Grand Final. Standing at the Haberden felt like closing a circle.
Meanwhile in the North West...
Thanks to the National League Rugby app, I spent Saturday afternoon in two places at once. Sedgley Park travelled to Preston Grasshoppers as unbeaten National Two North leaders, and Hoppers made them work for it.
Preston led 17-14 at half-time and took control after the break. A Sam Freeman penalty and a converted Jacob Browne try put them 27-14 ahead. Then the leaders found another gear: Adam Mallinson and Mason Winterburn scored within five minutes, both converted, to put Sedge in front.
Jack Ellam crossed for the decisive try, and Oli Glasse - my player of the season in 2025/26 - converted to seal a 35-27 win. Preston pushed for a losing bonus point but fell short. Head coach Dan Orwin said he was "unbelievably proud" of his side. Sedgley's unbeaten record stays intact, and it was one of the stories of the round.
Around the match
A rugby trip is as much about what happens around the game as on the pitch. Our base was The Angel Hotel on Angel Hill (about a five-minute drive from Bury St Edmunds' Rugby Club), where Dickens stayed and which features in The Pickwick Papers.
Breakfast brought black pudding - and to a Lancastrian, that means the other Bury, in Greater Manchester. It's a short hop from there to Whitefield, home of Sedgley Park. By Saturday evening the weekend had an unofficial theme: Bury, black pudding and Sedge.
Friday was a change of sporting world. A Virgin Experience gift from Karen's mum, Val, took us round Dylan Cunha Racing Stables, the National Stud and the National Horseracing Museum at Newmarket - once we'd escaped the car park we got locked in. Rugby talks about pedigree, power and pace; at the home of British racing, those words belong to a much older tradition.
The rest was Suffolk at its best: a tasting at The Wine Cellar, a fair test of both Greene King and Adnams, a quiet matchday-morning walk through the Abbey Gardens, and an unplanned dinner with Rufford friends Phil and Fran, who happened to be in town.
Full time on the M6
The journey home went smoothly until the M6 south of Sandbach services. Then the Range Rover's alternator packed in: red lights, amber lights, black screens and a beep. We limped into the services just as the ABS and power steering went, grateful not to be stranded on a stretch with no hard shoulder.
The AA arrived within an hour but couldn't fix it, so AA Relay finished the job - 90 minutes later, the Range Rover on the back of a truck and the two of us in the cab.
I went for the rugby and came back with a river, a lunch stop, horses, a Dickensian hotel, black pudding, an abbey walk and a match at the Haberden. The car may have called time on the trip, but by then it had already given me four days' worth of stories.
Adapted from "Wolfpack Country: a Bury St Edmunds weekender" on Seniormash Reflections – read the original, with photographs, at markashcroft.substack.com.
