Ipswich 27  Saffron Walden 15

Ipswich moved into second place in London Division Three North-East with four tries in thirteen magical minutes against bottom-placed Saffron Walden at Humber Doucy Lane on Saturday.

The home side raced so convincingly into a seemingly unassailable lead that they lost their edge and nearly allowed the Essex team back into the match.

Saffron Walden scored the only points of the second half as Ipswich sat back on the 27-5 halftime lead but the Suffolk side are on target for promotion play-offs.

Five outstanding first-half tries were too much for the visitors to overhaul and Ipswich have two games to seal second position, as leaders Eton Manor are five points clear at the top.

The first try came after the quarter-hour mark when flyhalf Jan Van Tonder sent a long pass to flying fullback Sam Keeble-Taylor, who scored out wide. Christian Hadwen missed the conversion attempt.

Three minutes later Saffron Walden missed with a penalty attempt and Ipswich rolled back upfield in response, with the phenomenal Cristoffel Blom making short work of six defenders to score under the posts. The conversion from Hadwen made it 12-0.

Minutes later Ipswich winger Danny Gillians snuck between two tacklers near halfway and sprinted half the pitch to score a superb individual try which Hadwen failed to convert.

With the visitors flailing helplessly now, Ipswich stormed towards the line again and Fraser Pratt snatched a floated pass to stretch over and score to take the hosts to a 22-0 lead on the half-hour.

Ipswich’s forwards relaxed enough to let Saffron Walden’s pack drive flanker Andrew Wisbey over the line out wide, but the amber-and-blacks struck back on the stroke of halftime when Gillians’ thundering run down the right-hand touchline was enough impetus for the supporting Pratt to collect the pass and score in the corner.

Saffron Walden’s forwards showed character in the second half and demolished the home scrum on several occasions while Ipswich were unable to utilise their vastly superior backline, and the visitors’ penalty after four minutes and last-minute converted try were just reward for their effort.

Ipswich attacked the tryline many times without reward and the ensuing frustration earned a number of penalties for Saffron Walden until finally the referee made an example, sinbinning Jeff Searle with little time left on the clock.

Saffron Walden’s last-gasp driving maul try, to flanker Leigh Anderson, still left them some way short of a threat to the result and Diss’ loss to Campion saw Ipswich leapfrog their local rivals into second place in the league.

Ipswich have two important matches to secure second place, firstly away to Harlow on April 8 and finally at home against Rochford on April 22.

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