A high spirited performance by Ipswich, still weakened by the ever increasing injury list and unavailability’s made league leaders Thurrock fight all the way for their hard earned points. It was a great match to watch and score margin certainly did not reflect the way the game was played.

Ipswich kicked off forcing Thurrock into their own 22 metre and that’s where they stayed until Thurrock were awarded a penalty for a high tackle.
Thurrock took a quick tap and passed the ball quickly through the backs showing slick ball handling skills for No15 D. Worster to run through the gap to score under the posts against the run of play. No9 A. Burns converted. (0 – 7).

Ipswich continued to push forward still enjoying the majority of possession in the early stages of the game, Thurrock proved resilient in defence and on the 20^th minute stole an Ipswich lineout ball, pushed the ball quickly through the backs, allowing No14 M Wakefield to show his pace to score right of the posts. A. Burns kicked the conversion. (0 – 14).

Ipswich did not drop their heads and continued to push forwards, on the edge of the 22metre line Ipswich were awarded a penalty for an offside infringement. Ipswich No10 Sam Corston kicked fro the easy 3 points. (3 – 14).

The game continued with some aerial ping pong before Thurrock won a lineout ball deep inside the Ipswich half, a ruck was formed before the ball was spun wide for No13 Ben Stanley crash over the line by the uprights with only 10minutes of the first half remaining . No9 A. Burns converted. (3 – 21).

On the stroke of halftime Ipswich knocked on inside their own 22 metre area, from the Thurrock scrum the ball was recycled into a rolling maul were No 12 Earl Gorham latched onto the ball before crossing the line next to the posts. No9 A. Burns kicked the conversion. (3 – 28).
HALFTIME.

Ipswich still continued upbeat that points could come their way, however after some missed tackles No15 D Worster collected a high clearance ball and made good ground before passing to support runners before forward Ben Partridge crossed the line. No9 A. Burns missed the conversion. (3 – 33).

Ipswich continued taking the game to Thurrock forcing the visitors to make many errors, but still the defence line seemed a tough nut to crack.
After 21 minutes of the second half played Thurrock increased their lead when again the visiting backline showed their pace and centre And Eaton finished to move with a try left of the posts. No12 Gorman kicked the conversion. (3 – 40)

From the restart Ipswich pushed up forcing Thurrock onto the back foot causing them to give away penalties, from a quick tap No9 Ryan Potkins took the ball forward before passing to the supporting forwards to form a driving maul crossing the tryline and Josh Todd getting the touchdown. No10 Sam Corston kicked the conversion. (10 – 40).

On the stroke of fulltime Thurrock finished of the scoring, when again the fullback D Worster gathered a long high kick and returned at pace carving a line through the Ipswich defence before passing to supporting centre Ben Stanley to cross in the right corner. Gorman converted. (10 – 47).

FULLTIME: Ipswich 10 Thurrock 47

After the match Head Coach Aaron Brown praised the Ipswich team for a spirited performance in which no one dropped their heads and continued fighting the whole 80 minutes. A sincere thanks to players stepping up short notice to cover injury’s and unavailability’s, and a  especially fullback John Searle who only knew 30 minutes before kick-off that he was playing for the 1^st XV. Ipswich have a well earned rest from league rugby next week, which hopefully some respite for the injured to recuperate.

The rest of the league results were -

Braintree 30 - 7 Chelmsford

Harlow 27 - 29 Saffron Walden

Mersea Isl 8 - 42 Norwich

Romford & GP 27 - 15 Enfield Egns

Sudbury 13 - 25 Colchester