Bury Festival 2019

We took a squad of 20 over to Bury, and with two teams of 9-a-side and 5 games each to be played, plenty of game time was guaranteed for the lads.

Black Summary

The Black team started slowly but grew into the day and by the end were playing some scintillating rugby. In the first match they came up against a strong rucking Felixstowe side who proved to be too good at the break down, denying Ipswich ball. Whilst we did not trouble to scorers in the opening game, our tackling was ferocious (notably captain Tommy Davies) against some very powerful runners.

This season has introduced kicking and the next game against Bury taught us some lessons! Lesson no.1 is to not kick to their quick wingers and then let them run round your defensive chase to score in the corner. Ditto lesson 2 & 3!!

The team started to find their feet in the third game against Colchester. A powerful run down the right from Riley set up Tommy to open the scoring and confidence started to flow from there. Unfortunately despite another second half try they were unable to turn around the deficit and were on the end of an unlucky 3-2 scoreline. Twice in 2 weeks they have played better than their opponents and twice they have not been rewarded for their efforts.

Hadleigh were up next and by this time all the players were competing for the ball like their lives depended on it. Suddenly the team found themselves with a plethora of possession and with a combination of quick movement of the ball from the breakdown and good handling and passing moves the boys delivered a cracking victory sealed by a nearly length of the field dash from Lincoln.

The final game of the day against Newmarket saw the boys keep up their impressive work in attack, running in a number of fine tries including a powerful jinking run from Cameron. However the long day was telling and some lapses in concentration in defence offered gaps for their strong runners to take advantage of.

All of the boys should be proud of how they turned round their performance levels after a slow start, although in future matches they will need to learn to start at the right levels of concentration and determination. Both Tommy and Arthur were rewarded for strong efforts all day with braces of tries. Player of the day was awarded to Isaac John for a great attitude and all around game in attack and defence. Special mention also to Ollie Hunt who was stepping up into the U11s for the first time and did not look out of place.

Gold Summary

A steady performance from Ipswich U11 Gold at the Bury Festival. They were drawn against Sudbury, Bury Green, Chelmsford, Woodbridge and Stowmarket, winning 3 and losing 2.

Ipswich started strongly with a solid 4-1 win against Sudbury with Luca and Viggo scoring twice each. Some issues with fending saw Ipswich give away too many penalties but they stayed on top and followed the first win with a 3-2 win against Bury Green. Ipswich’s performance dipped a bit against Chelmsford (2-0 loss) and Woodbridge (4-0 loss) where a lack of urgency at the breakdown and some poor ball control allowed the opposition to control the game, nonetheless Ipswich put in spirited performances in both games.

Ipswich were back to winning ways in their last match against Stowmarket, winning 5-2 with Tomos and Viggo both crossing twice. The other try came from Fin who followed up strong runs from Daniel and Bryn to score his second try of the day. Overall a strong team effort with contributions from everyone. William, Fin and Luca were all strong under the high ball and made the opposition regret a number of loose kicks. Junior, Isaac A, Kamron and Tomos were industrious as ever with countless tackles and strong runs. Looking ahead, a little more urgency at the breakdown should pay dividends.