The Mens 1st XV began their EC Counties 1 campaign with an away trip to Ely Tigers, who were a solid outfit in the league last year. The match finished 35-24 to the home side.

The early exchanges were somewhat withdrawn from both sides as they settled into the game.

Ely were wanting to play quite narrow and into the channels around the ruck, whilst Ipswich were looking to play to their processes and use their many attacking options to get early gains. An early penalty gave Ely a 3-0 lead, before a couple of rusty skill errors saw Ely get some field position which led to their first try of the game.

Ipswich started to put some phases together after this score and began to make advances up the pitch. With the sense that there was perhaps some superiority on the horizon, the game became quite forced and Ipswich were certainly guilty of trying to run before we could walk when it came to building scoreboard pressure.

Our first score came at 35 minutes in an excellent display of power from Harry Butler after some neat backs play on the left wing. A maul from the subsequent line-out brought the score to 13-7 at half time.

With the wind behind them in the second half, Ipswich were hoping to drill down and get our noses in front. But some slack tackling which was present in the first half crept into the second, and Ely started well with some uncharacteristically expansive play leading to the award of a penalty try and yellow card as Chandler Bonne was left isolated in defence and his tackle high.

Ipswich’s promising second half started with a signature storming try from Jake Goodwin, created through a line-out on the left. Our dominant and relentless forward play drew a string of penalty infringements in Ely’s 22 including a yellow card, culminating in Harry Butler forcing through the defence to bring the score to 20-17 at 60 minutes. The returning Callum Murphy was also excellent at giving the backs front-foot ball and an energetic zip in attack.

Some strong running from Ely’s backline saw them score two tries in quick succession on either wing, before another line-out and maul gave us our fourth try and bonus point from the excellent Tom Jermy, well converted by Callum Murphy.

Speaking after the game, Lead Coach Ash Cook reflected on the match:

‘We just never really got going. I think we thought that we were the better side after about ten minutes and as a result jumped ahead in our thinking. We needed to be a little more patient and earn the right to take the opportunities that we created.

“Defensively we have a bit to do with how we approach the first few metres, but I was pleased to see that some of our attacking play showed how dangerous we can be and I’m looking forward to seeing what we do next week. Next week of course is a huge day and event for the club and we can’t wait to get stuck into it!

“Finally, I would like to congratulate Tom Jordan, Oli Peacock, Ben Andrews and Ayrton Seabrook who really stepped up from the 2nd XV today. We have deep pockets at the club and these guys really showed that today.”

Man of the Match: Tom Jermy
Dick of the Day: Chandler Bonne
Matchday sponsor: Dynamic Fluid Solutions

Attention now turns to next week’s huge derby against Ipswich YM at Humber Doucy Lane. Make a day of it and join us for a VP lunch to enjoy a three course meal in the build-up to kick-off

With England v Chile following at 4.45pm, it’s the perfect excuse to make a day of it at Humber Doucy Lane!