Ipswich RFC 22 - 8 Cantabrigians RFC

IPSWICH RFC earned a thoroughly deserved away win at Cambridge based Cantabrigians in round 1 of the London 2 (North East) program on a humid but dry Saturday. The ‘black & golds’ were much the better team and, had the handling of the three-quarters been a little sharper, who knows what may have taken place.

The game was pretty well even in the first quarter, although Ipswich enjoyed the lions share of possession, & for once were quite dominant at the scrum.

Despite this steady flow of ball Jake Steward was under pressure at the back of the scrum and Grimwood and Barker looked slightly apprehensive at times with ball in hand.

Throw in a commendable and strong defensive effort from the home side and one could understand why Barker was regularly getting clattered by his opposite number Tilley as he received what seemed to be at times, quite slow ball. The giant Chris Kolapo-Ajala, 6ft 4in and playing at outside centre, was an underused resource and worryingly after 20 mins Ipswich had failed to get him on the move.

It was athletic winger Jermaine Watson who opened the Ipswich account after 18 minutes - the first time he had received the ball in space. Executing a superb finish, combining crisp footwork and excellent acceleration he left his opposite number Matt Houlden clutching at straws as he scored in the corner after a period of sustained Ipswich pressure (0-5).

Ipswich gradually increased the pressure and more & more of the passes started to stick but still the lads were unable to convert their increasing dominance into points as a well-drilled pressure defensive effort forced error after error.

As pressure increases, the defending side usually start to make mistakes and concede penalties. And so it proved here as patient Ipswich moved slowly through the phases with George Ainge, Ben Knowles and Jim Clark prominent.

Fraser Goldie, Cris Blom & Adam Pickering were also heavily involved as the Ipswich pack shared the work load. A yellow card for repeat offending saw the home sides fly-half Adam Fastnedge depart. Ipswich pressed on. Yet another penalty (not rolling clear at the tackle) and Alan Barker kicked a sweet penalty from 30 metres out to push us further ahead (39 mins). Sadly, this score was cancelled out with a Cantabs penalty from 25 metres just moments later and, on the stroke of half-time (Half-time: 3-8).

The third quarter saw Ipswich dominant, particularly at scrum time, thus securing a steady stream of possession but still, the crisp handling and sweeping movement was absent as the black & golds stuttered through the opening exchanges. Thank goodness the mighty Ipswich pack was so dominant in the scrum. For a while it looked like Ipswich could afford to knock the ball on and go to scrummage – driving the Cantabs pack off their own ball. Luxury.

Very much against the run of play, and following yet another scrum, the home side won possession on half way at a rapidly disintegrating scrummage. Jim Clark had obviously had three shredded wheat for breakfast this morning as his opposite number seemed unable to handle the pressure coming through from the veteran prop! The Cantabs number 8 & skipper Richard Ford – a rangey type at 6ft 5in and about 16 stone – stepped out of a tackle and crossed the gain line. As Blom clattered into him he found support from speedy winger Francois Eves who in turn burst through a weak tackle in midfield and off-loaded to fly-half Fastnedge who evaded a weak tackle to score and level the game (8-8).

Cantabs were encouraged and tested the Ipswich defence. Thomas Russell made a couple of big hitrs midfield as did Blom and Jake Goodwin. Out wide Tawanda Kandemwa and Watson closed down their opposite numbers quite easily nullifying the threat on the flanks. Grimwood and Barker also made important tackles in midfield.

Ipswich, whilst enthusiastic and ambitious, seemed wasteful and frustrated as the game moved into the final quarter. Launching wave after wave of runners at the Cantabs line winger Watson was held up in-goal after about 68 mins.

The resulting scrum saw Ipswich destroy the Cantabs pack yet again with the ref penalising the Cantabs front row for standing up. Another scrum and Cris Blom decided that on this occasion he would make absolute certain of the score and shovelled the ball up. Head down, he charged for the line - only one winner here. Blom grounded the ball under the posts to allow Barker a simple conversion on 71 mins (8-15).

The superior fitness of the Ipswich side was now quite evident and Cantabs, whilst still resilient, were starting to fall off tackles as the Ipswich effort continued.

Flanker Goodwin was popping up all over the field – as usual - and made a break up the Ipswich left. Watson, in support, appeared to have slightly over-run the pass and again the ball was lost.

As the home side tired, they introduced their replacements which in turn meant that they started to look disjointed. Space was starting to appear in midfield.

Slowly but surely the Ipswich lads started to make more headway.

The energetic Kandemwa had a couple of efforts and then Chris Kolapo-Ajala announced his presence with a hugely powerful run down the Cantabs left. Handing off a couple of would-be tacklers the Ipswich centre stepped away from touch before a massive triple tackle (that’s what it takes!), knocked him off his feet. Some spectators believed that the ‘crash tackle’ (no arms) of the Cantabs scrum half (a thorough nuisance throughout the game) deserved a red card but, the ref took no action. To his credit, Chris took the tackle and set the ball back allowing Ipswich to continue with the assault through Kandemwa & Barker.

On 79 minutes Chris again received the ball on half-way and on this occasion, he blasted his way up the centre of the field with winger Watson in support. On this occasion the Cantabs defence, parted as the Red Sea did for Moses, and the powerful centre dived over the try line to score under the posts - Barker converting (8-22).

And that, was that.

Ipswich had secured an away win at the first attempt scoring three tries to one.

The ‘black & golds’, with so much pace outside looked dangerous on the flanks throughout the match – although some of the handling and distribution out there was questionable. Focus areas for the week ahead will involve the Ipswich kicking game and the release of our speedy wingers. Getting Chris Kolapo-Ajala into the game at an earlier stage is also likely to be significant.

Ipswich were fitter and dominated the second period (winning 5-14) with strong performances from many - in particular Ben Grimwood, Jake Goodwin and George Ainge were ‘mentioned in dispatches’.