BURY RUFC went down 18-12 at Prenton after a poor display on the road which also saw Jonny Foster fracture his leg late on.

The visitors welcomed back Foster from a shoulder injury and Chris Lynch made his first start of the season against the Lancs/Cheshire Division Three South side.

But in the early exchanges neither side found it easy to establish themselves.

It was Prenton who found themselves on the attack first with the Rams having to defend their line, which they managed to accomplish reasonably well, only leaking three points from a penalty kick.

Bury were the first to put a try on the board, decent phases by the forwards saw Prenton make infringements at the ruck and from the awarded penalty, top scorer Daniel Palmieri took a quick tap and danced through the defence to touch down for his 10th try of the season.

Following this, though, Bury really struggled to keep any sort of pressure on.

They were almost inviting pressure on themselves which had to tell at some point and did as Prenton went over before the changeover.

Tempers frayed a touch from the travelling players who felt they were not getting the rub of the green from the officials.

Bury came out quickest after the interval and looked like they had scored a well-worked try in the corner, only to be pulled back for a foot in touch by the touch judge.

A change in the pack shortly after saw Jake Maxwell take to the field to strengthen the second row.

But it was Prenton who added to their score with a converted try and a penalty kick to take a commanding lead.

The Rams continued to struggle to lay down any sort of continuity in their play, but did manage a further try.

Good work by the pack down the left saw Foster offload out of the tackle to Maxwell, who crashed over for his first of the campaign. The tackle unfortunately left Foster in a heap and with a fractured leg.

Bury will be looking to bounce back when they welcome North Manchester to Radcliffe Road on Saturday.