junior colts

Ipswich U17s welcomed back some old faces who have recently been playing with the Colts as well as three U18s helping out as once again we were short on numbers. The prospect of playing with reduced numbers against Sudbury who won the U17s Essex League recently was not something anybody was looking forward to. After some chasing around and help from the Colts coaches we did manage to get 17 players in total.

From the start Ipswich took the game to Sudbury, with the play being mainly in Sudbury’s half for the first 15 minutes. During this period Sudbury occasionally threatened with some fast breaks but good tackling by Ipswich snuffed these out quickly. The stalemate was eventually broken on the 27^th minute. Having driven one of their wingers into touch 8 metres out from the Ipswich touchline, the Ipswich throw-in was a adjudged “not straight”. Sudbury took the ball out of the ensuing scrum and ran the ball over the line. The conversion was missed. 0-5.

Sudbury’s next score came at 32 minutes. Ipswich having resisted a period of pressure had a scrum well within their own 22 metre line. Sudbury charged the kick and the ball fell kindly for them and a try was scored. Sudbury converted the try. 0-12.

No further score in the first half. The general view of the spectators (admittedly Ipswich ones) was that the score somewhat flattered our opposition based on the play in the first half. Ipswich scrum was dominant, even winning one of their put-ins. Support play was much more evident at rucks, with cleaner balls coming out. However the muddy conditions and wet ball meant that the Backs did not get as much of the ball as they would have liked. 

Sudbury’s next score came 42 minutes mark. They passed the ball quickly from the left side of the pitch all the way to the right and their winger evaded a number of tackles to score in the middle of the posts. The conversion kick was straight forward. 0-19.

Ipswich players to their credit did not loose heart. This was finally rewarded with an opportunistic try by Jorge Pashler after 48 minutes of play. Ipswich having won a penalty 30 metres out, decided to try one of their forwards penalty moves. There were some who thought kicking into touch might have been a better option. These sceptics were proved wrong in the end. The Goodwin brothers linked together to make 20 metres gain, Jake Goodwin first taking the ball and then the younger brother Sam picking up to make further ground before passing it back to Jake who was eventually bundled out to touch. The resulting Sudbury lineout was disrupted by Ipswich with Tom O’Reilly breaching their line and kicking the ball forward. Pashler followed through and scrambled the ball over the line. The conversion was missed (see quote of the day). 5-19.

Sudbury were awarded a penalty on the Ipswich 22 metre, the referee adjudging Ipswich as offside. The straightforward kick was successful. 5-22.

From another penalty 15 metres out Sudbury ran the ball in with one of their own penalty moves for a try with the conversion missed. 5-27.

The next score came on 73 minute. The ball coming out of the scrum was pushed along the backline, but the wet conditions resulted in the ball going to ground and the Sudbury plaers were quickly onto it and kicked it forward and were the first onto the loose ball, scoring. The conversion was missed. 5-32.

The final score came from a Sudbury scrum on the 5 metres line, Ipswich having held up the ball on the previous play. Their flanker took the ball and score in the corner. The conversion was missed.

Final Score 5-37.

Despite the scoreline, it was a much improved performance from the team, particularly when you note that Sudbury are a strong side. In the second half the muddy conditions and tiredness took their toil on Ipswich players. A number for the players were also playing with various knocks and sprains. Sam Goodwin manfully went the whole match despite being in some discomfort for most of the match. Henry Lane also received treatment to his shoulder before returning to complete the match.

The quote of the day has to be from Aidan. Before our conversion attempt, asked by his dad if he was ok to kick the ball (suffering a slight sprain) he replied “Not Really”, Mark enquired why he didn’t let Ben kick it then – to which Aidan replied “he can’t see!” (It should be explained that Ben had managed to get some mud in his eyes a few minutes earlier).

Our thanks to the lads who stepped in this Sunday – Ben, Aidan, Danny, Josh, Jack and Jake.

Next week the U17s will be away at Beccles, somewhere our squad has not visited before, so somewhat of an unknown quantity. Hope we’ll have some more players available next week.

Ipswich U17s from:

Henry Lane, Vik Sarpal, Jake Goodwin (Colt), Sam Goodwin, Tom O’Reilly, Alex Hitter, Jorge Pashler, Josh Fisher, Danny Pratchett, Aidan Tynan, Ben Grimwood, James Milbourne, Jordan Emsden, James Sadler, Ed Barker, Jack Curtis (Colt) , Josh Pearse (Colt)