Eastern Counties Rugby Union

Under the new floodlights on the main pitch at Ipswich RFC's Humber Doucy Lane over 50 young players (aged between 17-21) enjoyed a very competitive match in front of a large festive crowd.

Six players from Ipswich's current colts squad, 12 from the 1st,2nd & 3rd teams combined with 10 university returners to try and gel as a squad within the allotted 40 minute warm up period which of course was an impossible task.

Ipswich were hampered by having these 28 players to accommodate but rightly concentrated in getting as much game time as possible for everyone which in practise meant changing virtually the whole team at half time. With 3 university guys also watching on unable to play because of injury and Tom Jordan withdrawn just before the match due to a shoulder problem it was easy to observe that this type of match is hugely popular and should be repeated as often as possible to keep players connected to their club and to help transition the younger players into senior rugby.

Southwold with fewer replacements enjoyed a more settled team selection and they were impressive in the movement of their backs who conjured up some lovely attacking moves as they built a 3 try lead at half time. Southwold profited from some wayward Ipswich handling and lack of control at the breakdown which gifted them easy turnover ball which they used well.

The match was superbly refereed by Darryl Chapman who enjoyed the evening and his surprise 50th birthday cake afterwards.

The second half was dominated by Ipswich who despite injuries to Alex Fane, Ed Last & Corey Button clawed back 2 tries before conceding a soft try late on which wrapped it up for Southwold with a scoreline of 12-24.

Many of the large crowd stayed on for a few beers to witness an Ipswich triumph in the mini boat race!

This was a very enjoyable evening, well hosted by Ipswich RFC who look to repeat the exercise by tackling Colchester over the Easter period.
--
Mike Hancock