Those who emerged blinking into the sunshine at Humber Doucy Lane from the conviviality of the club lunch were in for a shock. From the start,Beccles,hitherto a club with just one win to their name had parked their tank firmly on the Ipswich five meter line. And there it remained for a good ten minutes with the visitors crossing the line twice only to be held up by a resolute defence. The tank finally met its demise when Beccles became over excited and entered from the side of the ruck.- result- penalty to Ipswich and an enormous banana in the exhaust pipe of a hopeful visiting team.

From there on Beccles resembled a bemused motorist who found himself going the wrong way down a motorway.Things kept whizzing past them on either side.Ipswich are blessed having a lethal back division with pace to spare in every position.This was underlined in the 15^th minute when Joshn James received a flat pass just outside his own 22 meter line and lit the after burners. He only encountered a defence of any kind after he crossed the try line which resulted in a match ending injury for him. Ipswich though have strength in depth and Tim Hopkins replaced him looking for all the world like a latter day JPR Williams and embued with similar turn of foot.By half time the match as a contest was all but over – when the backs didn’t go round, the forwards went through the visitors .You know that you are in trouble when the hooker, Brad Jones not only has the time to score the try but has the elan to run behind the posts. It was almost rude. However Beccles could have finished the half with much less deficit had they converted three chances just before the break. With the line at his mercy and one man to beat, their inside centre became convinced that his winger was a Mr Fresh Air for that his who he passed to and the ball ran into touch. Both other chances involved handling skills resembling a mismatch with a wet bar of imperial leather – two knock ons when all they had to was catch it.At half time 38 -7

The second half began with Ipswich looking to make the afternoon more unpleasant  for their guests.At one point they appeared to be scoring at will –Beccles having no answer to the speed of the three quarters and the bullocking runs of the forwards notably Chris Blom. Indeed he provided one of the more pleasureable moments of the match for is there ever a more beautiful sight than a forward in splendid isolation from his chums in the pack with thirty meters to go to the line? Touchdown was a veritable collapse followed by the sounds of bellows heaving. This event needed documentation because by the time the episode was retold in the bar afterwards the distance had gone up to 50 meteres and involved two side steps. To their very great credit Beccles didn’t stop playing and scored an interception try late on in the half- no more than they deserved -with the game being played in great spirit with handbags well and truly holstered. With two notable tries from Ben Grimwood and Iwandre Spangenberg solo efforts scored from underneath their own posts the game concluded at a score of 71-14.