Eastern Counties Rugby Union

Photo thanks to Darren Wright - Brandon Davis and Tom Emery

Thanks to all clubs and those involved for a fantastic day on Sunday at Stowmarket – a short report is attached below:-

Congratulations to Ipswich on winning the Eastern Counties Colts Sevens on Sunday, beating Hadleigh B (U16) side in the final.

12 sides entered the competition, by far the biggest entry for many years, with Ipswich, Bury, Hadleigh and Colchester Development all contributing 2 sides each, joining Stowmarket, Woodbridge, Norwich and West Norfolk. Teams were divided into 3 pools of 4, playing 3 games each, before semis and finals at appropriate levels.

In the “Bowl”, Colchester Dev A beat Ipswich B, whilst Colchester Dev B beat Norwich. Both Colchester sides were running out of players, so declined to play the final !
In the “Plate”, Bury B beat Hadleigh A, and West Norfolk beat Stowmarket; a high quality final resulted in a win for Bury B

In the “Trophy” competition for the Brian Borges Cup, Ipswich A beat Woodbridge in one semi final, but Hadleigh B, drawn from their U16 squad beat Bury A, by 5 tries to 4 in a pulsating game. In the final, Ipswich A had to work hard to beat the youngsters from Hadleigh by 4 tries to 1.

This was an outstanding day’s rugby; all sides turned up, we ran the competition to time, there were no yellow cards !!, there was no hassle from players or spectators ; all players approached the tournament in a friendly and positive way. There was a superb and friendly atmosphere on the touchlines – the day was an absolute joy. Whilst the results are, of course, important, the most significant point was the positive and enjoyable playing opportunity for around 120 lads, a number of U16s were developed for next season’s Colts campaigns, and Rugby’s Core Values were displayed to the maximum.

A huge thanks to Stowmarket for hosting the event on 3 pitches, to their 2 physios for looking after a number of (thankfully not too) injured players, and for organising the BBQ, to providing a brilliant scorer in Chris Allen, and for organising the overnight rain to soften up previously bone hard pitches. A further thanks to Suffolk Society Referees, Ben Gravestone, Ross Cowie and David Upson, and to Charlie Warburton (Hadleigh) and Any Wilesmith (Wooodbridge) for officiating.

A splendid day for the Game of Rugby.