Tonbridge Juddians remain top of National 2 East despite a 32-21 defeat in awful conditions at Bury St Edmunds on Saturday.

TJs played with the slope in the first half and both sides had to contend with a gusty cross-wind for much of the match.

The rain came later but by then the game was largely up for TJs.

Bury St Edmunds started brightly and as TJs tried to work out who was on catching duty at the back, the play went right and left before the extra man was found and the hosts dotted down in the left corner.

TJs were clearly upset by the errors and from the restart they regathered the ball.

As it went left, it was Harrison Sims who powered over and Sam Evans converted to make it 5-7 after 15 minutes.

Understandably the ball was in the air a fair amount for both sides as they tried to make the cross-wind count in their respective favours.

Sometimes it worked but it was short-lived as the game became a series of errors and penalties for both squads and neither were able to get the upper hand.

TJs, though, found the next score as Shadyn Osgood, like Sims unstoppable from just a few metres out, ploughed over after the half-hour and Evans added the extras to make it 5-14.

But once again it was short-lived as Bury scrambled upfield to secure their second try to close to 12-14 and it stayed that way to the break as they all headed into the warmth of the changing room for a rethink.

Up the slope isn’t always an issue at Bury and while a lack of accuracy and discipline can be, TJs started the second half with no such concerns.

Sims caught a high ball and a slick interchange of passes saw Tommy Nicoll through a hole and he out-paced the defenders to make it to the line to score.

Evans again converted to make it 12-21 and with three tries in the TJ bank, they were heading in the right direction and hopefully a bonus point try and another win.

It was not to be, though, as from there on TJs struggled to put the phases together and their lineout was put under ever-increasing pressure from a Bury pack keen to avoid another close defeat.

As TJs gave away penalties and field position, Bury were able to secure two converted tries to go in front 26-21.

TJs continued to battle hard but the tide of mistakes, penalties and niggle were all going against them and Bury added a penalty to the TJ woes and a yellow card to boot.

Another penalty followed and while TJs hammered at the Bury tryline they could not get over and no bonus point try or losing bonus point could be gained.

Tonbridge have a weekend off before hosting Henley Hawks on December 7 (2pm).