Boudicca Cup Final

Ipswich 31 Harlow 10

Ipswich Scorpions brushed aside all opposition to bring Ipswich Rugby Club its first senior silverware in recent history when they beat Harlow in the 2005 Boudicca Cup final at Humber Doucy Lane on Sunday.

The Scorpions scored 16 tries over the course of three matches as the full squad was utilised to maximum effect with the unstoppable Emily-Jane Stearn and speedster Emma Johnson sharing the tries in the final.

Captain Stearn showed her showstopping prowess with seven tries to her name but the player of the tournament was second rower Lisa Cooksey, who was phenomenal around the pitch and also won the placekicking competition – the only player out of the six competing to land all of her attempts.

In the Invitational XV match, a depleted Wasps XV was summarily despatched by Old Albanians 36-0.

With the late withdrawal of North East Essex Ladies, Ipswich only had two pool matches en route to the final, running up convincing wins over Diss 36-0 and Old Albanians IIs 29-10.

Harlow demolished all opposition in their pool apart from the Basildon Birds, who held them to 17-10. Southwold rued their lack of numbers in the backline and lost their three pool matches, the closest against Writtle Wanderers 22-5.

The biggest victory of the afternoon came in Harlow’s 39-0 dismemberment of Writtle, with Ipswich’s 36-0 masterclass display against Diss another showpiece.

In the other match in Ipswich’s pool, plucky Diss, who have only started playing this season, gave Old Albanians a scare when they raced in three tries without reply after falling behind 12-0, only to be overtaken to lose 24-17.

Ipswich fielded several of their rookies during the tournament and three of the 17-year-old future stars played much of the final. Jessica Fletcher, Felicity Caryer and Jenny Andrews formed a potent mix in the home club’s backline and played all three matches with maturity and slick skills.

The reliable boot of flyhalf Vicky Archer earned Ipswich eight conversions to add to her gutsy try against Old Albanians and the tournament saw the welcome return of former captain Suzanne Norton, whose command in the backline was brought to an end with a hamstring injury in the second match.

Centre Jo Calver had her dynamic display, which included the try of the afternoon, cut short with an unfortunate recurrence of a knee injury, which kept her out of the final.

Coaches Dave Lintott and Jim Goodall were pleased with the development of the squad to this point in the season. “We’ve worked hard on defence and distribution and the backline is functioning smoothly,” said Goodall after the final. “The new players have shown that they all want to make the starting XV and competition for places ahead of this week’s match against Blackheath will make selection difficult, especially in the backline.”

Ipswich face unbeaten National League One South East league leaders Blackheath at Humber Doucy Lane this Sunday and have just two training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday to come up with a winning formula.

Boudicca Cup results:

Final: Ipswich 31 Harlow 10.

Invitational XV match: Old Albanians 36 Wasps 0

Pool One:

Writtle 22 Southwold 5
Harlow 17 Basildon 10
Basildon 20 Writtle 0
Harlow 27 Southwold 0
Harlow 39 Writtle 0
Basildon 32 Southwold 0

Pool Two:

Ipswich 36 Diss 0
Old Albanians II 24 Diss 17
Ipswich 29 Old Albanians II 10

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