Ipswich 37 : Sudbury 37

Four minutes into the second half of this local derby the visitors leapt to a 30-11 lead and looked totally dominant over Sudbury at Cornard Tye.

But by fulltime in this match between second-placed Ipswich and second-to-bottom Sudbury it had all gone horribly wrong for the Amber-and-blacks, as the youthful home side ran in three tries in thirteen minutes.

Ipswich captain Alex Briggenshaw was sinbinned midway through the second half and the replacement of the dynamic flanker Jeff Searle in this period saw Ipswich lose direction, conceding repeated penalties and losing the cohesion which had provided four tries within the five minutes either side of half-time.

Sudbury’s Jamie Philips and Scott Harries struck at the strangely subdued Ipswich defenders and the final try from Sudbury’s Adam Lucia was the direct result of a defence in total disarray.

Ipswich got onto the scoresheet within four minutes as roughsawn hooker Danny Reeve drove over the line in an Ipswich maul. Flyhalf Drew Locke missed the conversion.

Five minutes later Sudbury drew level as Kiwi number eight Scott Sparks scored round the side of another maul. Philips missed the conversion attempt.

Both teams traded penalties to keep the game tight at 8-all but scrumhalf Ollie Johnson darted down the blindside from a maul to cross unopposed and the missed conversion left the score tight at 13-8 to Ipswich.

Four minutes later, on the stroke of half-time, the phenomenal Cristoffel Blom was fed by Briggenshaw to brush aside three tacklers to pass to a thundering Searle, who slammed another five points on the sheet.

Vital points went begging as another conversion attempt went adrift and immediately after the turnaround Sudbury slotted over an important penalty to close to 18-11.

The Navy-and-white home side drifted to sleep for two expensive minutes as Blom first smashed through the centres to supply his fellow South African team-mate Pierre Theron, who scored under the posts, and then the Afrikaner flanker again sped around the three-quarters to pass to the ever-present Searle who scored his second try near the posts. Locke added one of his attempts and Ipswich had what looked like a decisive 30-11 lead.

A knock on by Ipswich in collecting a long Sudbury kick gave Sudbury a scrum deep in Ipswich territory with the try to Toby Goodwin and the resulting conversion to Philips bringing them within 12 points at 30-18.

Man-of-the-match Blom throttled the initiative back off the home side with a maniacal burst through the Sudbury defenders to score Ipswich’s final try and with Locke’s conversion Ipswich awaited the restart seemingly confident that the game was in their hands at 37-18.

The next thirteen minutes were certainly unlucky for Ipswich as the referee picked them up on a number of offences to let Sudbury keep control, with first John Coony scoring short from a ruck, then the influential Harries, who had replaced Steve Glen at scrumhalf, scoring another try, which Philips converted to close the game to 37-30 as the clock wound down.

The last in a series of Ipswich lineout errors gave a flying Sudbury the chance to maul up to the line, drawing in the defenders to leave former captain Fraser Pratt trying to guard 20 metres of tryline in vain. Lucia’s try and Philips’ conversion left a frantic Ipswich with minutes to find a result but Sudbury held out to secure a much-needed point.

Ipswich remain second but Eton Manor’s 13-3 win over Romford and Gidea Park gives them a 5 point gap above Ipswich at the top of London Division Three North East.

Mike Ward's flying tackle knocks the
ball from his opposite number

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