Ipswich 7 - 20 Romford & Gidea Park

Ipswich welcomed Romford and Gidea Park RFC to a wet and windy Humber Doucy Lane and the match was always going to be tightly contested with two mid table sides and very similar results. In the end Romford won with a comfortable 20-7 margin in a tough fought match in very difficult conditions.

The visitors had a great start playing with the wind, Ipswich knocked on from the kick-off and Romford gained a penalty from the ensuing scrum, that penalty was converted by Teddie Duke, so Romford were three points to the good with barely a minute on the clock. Romford had experienced wet, windy and soft conditions in the previous week and played a tight, controlled and highly committed game keeping pressure on the home side and kicking smartly for position. On 5 minutes Romford kicked very deep and charged down a clearance kick coming close to a score but forcing Ipswich to concede a scrum five, the strong Romford pack drove over for a pushover try by number 8 Stephen Barfoot. The try was converted by Teddie Duke. Romford kept the pressure on Ipswich with strong rucking and great line speed in defence, but Ipswich gained a scrum on their own 10 metre line wide left, but the strong Romford pack unexpectedly won the ball against the head and attacked an un-prepared Ipswich defence freeing flanker Dwayne Lyn to sprint clear for a try, the conversion went wide but Romford were 15 points clear with only a quarter hour played.

Finally, Ipswich started to play working through the phases and gaining good territory with Mikey Graham and Chris Blom always driving well but the story of the half was one of errors at critical stages providing Romford with the opportunity to clear their lines time and again. On half time Ipswich came very close with a line out metres from the line but lost the opportunity as the throw went awry giving Romford an easy clearance. It was a critical miss and Romford turned round 15 – 0 ahead.

Ipswich started well but the wet and slippy conditions meant the error count remained high allowing Romford to relieve pressure time and again. On 20 minutes Ipswich attacked strongly through the phases before freeing fly half Corey Button to kick forward into space behind the Romford defence. He sprinted through to touch down close to the posts and converted straightforwardly to bring the score back to 7-15. Ipswich looked more effective at this stage holding the balance of possession and pressure but as before errors relieved the visitors too often.

On the half hour Romford gained possession and drove forward deep into the Ipswich 22, Romford played through penalty advantage driving Ipswich deep. Ipswich to their credit defended well but Romford kept moving the ball through phase after phase of attacking ruck, finally yielding a great forwards’ try for lock Aiden Mersh. The conversion was missed, but Romford had a 2 score margin with only 10 minutes remaining. Ipswich attacked again but Romford were committed and organised and held Ipswich at bay for the remainder of the match.

In the end Romford deserved the win, they played the conditions better, they were committed and controlled and made fewer errors on a very difficult afternoon.