Ipswich YM Minis Festival 26th March 2023

Squad:
K Armes, J Austin, A Bickers, L Darragh, C Dunnett, G Crapnell, C Jay, G Oswald, A Osborne, T Perkins, R Place, M Price, T Scanlan, J Styles, S Summers, B Warner

Fixtures:
IRFC V Mersea, IRFC V Mistley, IRFC V Ely, IRFC v Newmarket

Ipswich RFC U12s had what can only be described as a mixed YM Festival.
Sadly the powers that be had not put the Killer Bees in the same group as our hosts (perhaps fearing a repeat of the fixture earlier in the season), much to the boy's disappointment. But instead had paired them with Mersea Island, Mistley, Hadleigh, Ely and Newmarket. Hadleigh failed to turn up, so it the day was down to just four fixtures. Conditions were less than ideal, with several coaches and parents expressing their surprise that the event had not been postponed. Not only was the ground extremely wet, but as the rain dropped the wind picked up, while it was not particularly cold the wind did add considerably to the overall wind chill meaning the boys got progressively colder and more tired as the morning wore on.

The day could not have got off to a better start against Mersea Island and a rampant first half saw the Bees run in six tries without reply. Sebastian Summers opened the scoring followed by a strong run and score from Bobby Warner down the left. Max Price followed this up with a quick brace followed by a try from Cody Jay. Bobby finished the half with a carbon copy of his first try.
At half time, with the condition as they were, the boys were warned about using the whole team and moving the ball around rather than attempting to run through entire teams as this is extremely energy-sapping. This would come back to haunt them later in the day.
The second half saw a very similar return for the Bees, with another try from Max Price, followed by a try from George Osbourne and another try from Max Price. A very good result for the Bees turning over Mersea 10-0. Despite looking fairly evenly matched before the game, the bees were superior in their rucking, tackling and positional play.
MOTM Taiten Scanlan.

The Bees second game saw them pitted against a familiar foe in Mistley. Having played them in recent memory the boys were keen to reverse the tight scoreline of their previous encounter.
Full of confidence the boys looked to carry-on as they had begun. However, Mistley were far better organised and a tougher nut to crack than Mersea. A very evenly-balanced first half saw Mistley open the scoring, before George Oswald scored with one of his trademark runs and the teams were level going into the break. The Bees made the traditional changes at half-time and started the second half with increased vigour. A long period of pressure followed with the Bees clearly on top, however, Mistley's defence proved stubborn and disciplined and eventually they managed to score a breakaway try against the run of play to seal the match.
The Bees can count themselves very unlucky. Some long periods of pressure, coupled with some excellent defensive kicking from Rua should have been enough against strong opposition who we have had good contests with over the years, but it wasn’t to be. Final score IRFC 1-2 Mistley.
MOTM Rua Place

The third fixture of the day saw the Bees taking on an unfamiliar opponent in Ely. The match got off to a controversial start as the Bees started in dominant fashion. Alex Osbourne (Ozzie) was making serious inroads down the right-hand side, and, running through the Ely defense looked odds on to score, before slowing in response to a Ely supporter shouting ‘Off’ when clearly he wasn’t - the referee didn’t blow and Alex was promptly tackled and the Bees lost possession. The try which we deserved did eventually come before halftime through George Oswald, however just before the break Ely equalised. The second half saw the teams again play out a stalemate. Strong pressure concerted pressure mixed with good defensive rucking and kicking saw was not enough to see the Bees claim the victory, and Ely must have felt delighted to have drawn against a better team on the day.
MOTM Alex Osborne

The fourth and final game saw the Bees take on Newmarket. By this stage of the festival, the games and weather were really starting to take their toll. Bobby was hobbling with a dead leg and George Crapnell had the beginnings of a very impressive black-eye. The game did not go to plan with Newmarket running in five tries in the first half and three in the second. Tired legs and some poor decision-making did not help the bees, who can take some consolation from the fact that Newmarket are unbeaten this season and had beaten their other opponents by nine or more tries during the festival. The match was halted thirty seconds early as Max Price suffered a nasty hit to the back of his head, which saw the first aiders called onto the pitch along with the St Johns Ambulance.
St Johns Ambulance - quite rightly not wanting to take any risks called an ambulance from nearby Ipswich Hospital, while keeping Max immobile while the ambulance arrived. Thankfully, it was all just precautionary and Max was given a clean bill of health at Ipswich Hospital, without even a concussion being registered. Huge thanks to the St Johns Ambulance and the YM First Aiders who went above and beyond.
MOTM Charlie Dunnett

Overall a mixed day at YM, which was made a lot harder by the weather.
It’s good to see certain habits creeping in like improved rucking, however, the boys need to work on their passing, decision making and tackling. Having said that they showed excellent spirit and comradeship in difficult