Ipswich opened their London 2 North East League programme with a strong 50pts to 10 victory against newly promoted West Norfolk, scoring 8 tries in total of which 5 were scored by wingmen Chris Kolapo and Adam Clark, the former scoring a hat trick on his return to the club.

On a scorching late summer afternoon both teams endeavoured to play open rugby from the start with mixed results, but Ipswich after a spell of possession opened the scoring after 9 minutes with Chris Kolapo finishing a 35 meter run beating 3 defenders to score under the posts duly converted by skipper Corey Button.

The visitors enjoyed a spell of possession and scored a well taken try by centre Quentin Houston 9 minutes later which was unconverted to peg the deficit by 2 points.

The remaining quarter of the game was dominated by the home side and further scores were posted by centre Ben Grimwood after 21 minutes, and an outstanding individual effort by open side Jake Goodwin just before half time with Button converting the latter to give Ipswich a 21 pts to 5 lead at the interval.

The second half became a bit scrappy as fatigue set in, however 6 minutes into the second half wingman Adam Clark secured the try scoring bonus point skilfully taking a pass behind him and showing good athletic ability and grip of the football to place the ball over the try line.
The same player added a further score 9 minutes later following up his kick through beating 2 defenders to score to give the hots a 31pts to 5 advantage.

In the space of 3 minutes Chris Kolapo scored a brace, the first following 2 excellent accurate offloads, both of which were converted to extend the lead to 45-5.

West Norfolk continued to challenge the Ipswich defence throughout this period when they had limited possession and were rewarded by a try by Henry Rust following a driving maul at the lineout 15 metres out.

The scores were completed when interchange back Tito Magistrii somehow found a way to score in the left hand corner despite the close attention of two defenders, showing a forceful right hand fend to score and place the ball over the line one handed whilst off the ground.

The final score was 50pts to 10 in the home sides favour and both sides deserve credit in their first League game since March 2020, showing good fitness levels and commitment.

Jim Clark will be pleased with the overall performance, with the teams discipline in particular being a strong point only conceding 6 penalties over the 80 minutes.
Ipswich continue their London 2 North East programme with an away visit to Southwold next Saturday 25th September with a 3pm kick off, Southwold finished 2nd in the last abbreviated season 2019-20 a place above Ipswich so a very competitive match appears to be in store.