Ipswich 29 Rochford Hundred 17

Following last weekend’s loss to Braintree, Ipswich really needed a win, and with a revitalised squad that included Northampton hopeful Cristof Blom, and new Argentinean signing Luciano Silvera, the home side appeared to be dominant from the off.

A penalty for Rochford being off side gave Ipswich their first points of the game, Christian Hadwen kicking for three points within the first ten minutes.
Ipswich continued their relentless attacking, and 21 minutes in, South African Blom ran in a beautiful try to the right of the posts, but unfortunately the conversion was missed.

Five minutes from the end of the first half, Rochford turned over the ball in the ruck, and flanker Barker chased his own kick to touch down for an easy try, converted by No 10 Tom Ashton.

Immediately from the restart Ipswich Prop Ben Louisson broke Rochford’s defence to score by the posts. Christian Hadwen easily kicked the conversion to make the score Ipswich 15 Rochford 7.

Ipswich continued their aggressive attacking, and debutant Luciano Silvera soon found himself with ball in hand 20 metres from the try line. He made the sprint under the posts look easy, and with Hadwen’s conversion, gave Ipswich a further seven points before half time.

The second half had barely begun when Ipswich captain Fraser Pratt broke loose from a tackle and went on to feed Seb Woods, who flew between the posts for the home side’s fourth try. Hadwen again stepped up and converted to give Ipswich maximum points.

Rochford continued to play with some stern tackling, and during a long clearance kick, Christian Hadwen slipped when trying to gather the ball, knocking on. Rochford picked the ball up from the base of the scrum and drove the ball over the try line for their second try of the game, but were unable to convert for the full seven points.
With just a few minutes remaining, Rochford began attacking again, using the wind to good use, which forced Ipswich to concede a penalty for foul play. Rochford’s Tom Ashton put a superb cross field kick to the left winger Andy Baker who scored unopposed. Tom Ashton missed the conversion.

Ipswich are looking like the side their impressive setup promises, and with high calibre players such as Blom, Toalima, and Silvera, there could, realistically, be no stopping the Humber Doucy lane side

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