Suffolk RFU Under 20's v Cambridgeshire RFU Under 20's

 📆 24th April 2024 🕣 7:45pm KO 📍 Woodbridge Rugby Club 

Suffolk RFU U20s🆚Cambridgeshire RFU U20s 

📷 Steve Wells (Rugby__Tog)

The second fixture for Cambridgeshire RFU Under 20' s was against their counterparts from Suffolk, a week after beating Norfolk at Shelford, this was Suffolk's first game, the fixture was held at Woodbridge Rugby Club so it meant a trip along the A14 and the roadworks, so having left home at 5pm this gave us plenty of time, but as we got to the roadworks and the two lanes came down to one the traffic came to a halt, and there we crawled, but not for long, we was soon going again, the plan was to stay on the A14 over the Orwell Bridge and up the A12 to Woodbridge, but the Sat-Nav decided to take us off the A140 and across country, and through the villages, the first being Coddenham, where in places its tight to get two cars passing, so to follow a livestock HGV was interesting, but we stayed with him and just followed.

As if by magic we arrived in Woodbridge as we skirted around the outside of town, finally pulling into the Car Park just after 7pm, again Cambridgeshire called upon Shelford, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Cottenham, Peterborough Lions, St Ives, Ely, Saffron Walden and Cantabs, the opening of the game saw Suffolk start brightly pushing Cambridgeshire back and it was no surprise that they took a three point lead from a well struck penalty, going behind seemed to wake Cambridgeshire up as from line out, they powered over the line, despite it looking like the ball had been held up, the conversion was added, it was at this point that it started to hail, and the hail was cold, the lead was quickly extended as Cambridgeshire went over the line, under the posts to open up a lead, however from the restart the home County hit straight back to bring the gap 4 points.

Cambridgeshire were on top at the line outs, as once more they proved to strong as they again pushed Suffolk back to bundle the ball over to tap the ball over the line under a crowd of players, on the stroke of half time Cambridge scored again to lead at the break 28-10.

A stop/start start to the second half with both sides conceding to many penalties, which eventually saw the referee dish out yellow cards, firstly for Cambridgeshire, and then soon after to Suffolk, it was during this time that Cambridgeshire added another try, two quick fire tries for Cambridgeshire finally put the game to bed, as Cambridgeshire quickly broke from their own half, deep inside the Suffolk half, but the attack was halted by another penalty, which gave Suffolk the chance to clear their lines briefly, but quickly Cambridgeshire came back on the attack, another penalty for Cambs was quickly taken as they crossed the try line, from the restart they quickly went on the attack again and managed to cross the try line once more.

The next attack was held up over the try line which gave the Suffolk a brief break to clear their lines, Cambs were able to pick the ball up to score the best try of the evening, as they picked the ball up to chase down their own kick, to out pace and out power Suffolk, the final score of the evening quickly followed, and another quick break saw them break down the right hand side, but they managed to work the ball across the pitch to the left hand wing finally crossing the line in the corner, the conversion was added with the aid of the cross ball, which helped the ball go over.

Suffolk 10 - Cambridgeshire 57

Tries - Kyle Harris (2), George Mills, Oscar Coppins, Chris Irons, Fraser Jones, Billy White, Nathan Woolacott-Crow, Keane Wyman

Conversions - Tom Gunbie (4), Kyle Harris (2)

The drive home was going so well until we reached the A14, to go back towards Bury St Edmunds, it was closed !!! , so we had to go back towards Ipswich, off the next junction and rejoin, easy, nope, we then came across a rolling road block, which quickly moved on, the rest of the way home was straight forward, finally getting home just before midnight.

    

     

Cambridgeshire Under's 20 v Norfolk Under 20's

📆 17th April 2024, 🕣 7:30pm KO, 📍 The Davey Field, Shelford, Cambridgeshire U20s 🆚Norfolk U20s

Thats a wrap, last league game of the season, all aboard the "fun bus"

 📆 6th April 2024, 🕣 3pm KO, 📍 Humber Doucy Lane, Ipswich IP4 3PZ, 🆚Ipswich RFC, 📷 Steve Wells

Ely Tigers signed off the 2023/24 season with an away game at Ipswich RFC, until recent weeks Tigers where pushing Ipswich to finish in 3rd place, but a conceded game away to Ipswich YM pushed Tigers down the league, and with Shelford dropping points Ipswich were looking to take the runners up spot, as both sides went into the final game on 80 points.

The game started with a early chance for Tigers as they were awarded a penalty, Jake Alsop steps up to slot the ball home, with the help of the post, from the restart there was pressure from the home side, but a handling error by the home side saw Ely able to clear their lines, Ely cleared the ball from a line out on the right, passing their way to the left, finally allowing Matt McCarthy to score, with Alsop adding the conversion to give Tigers a 10 point lead

The home side come back from the restart, with a converted try to narrow the lead, with the score the home side started to get a foot in the game, and it wasn’t long until their second try came, with the conversion added they lead 14-10, with half time approaching, Ely take the lead, with Declan Wolverson diving over to score, the conversion was missed, but it meant the Tigers lead by a single point, in added on time, the home side piled on the pressure, they crossed the try line, but the Tigers held the ball up, giving the chance to clear the lines from a kick under the posts, the clearance was just a brief rest bite for Tigers, as back came the home side, as they crossed the line to score and lead at the break 19-15. 

The opening moments of the second half saw Tigers have a mountain to climb as they quickly conceded two quick tries, a low kick forward bounced kindly for the forward to score, with the difficult conditions not making the conversion easy, the ball falling short of the uprights, from the restart the home side scored again, making use of the overlap on the the wing, to score in the corner, again the conversion was missed 

The try of the afternoon came from the home side as they scored their third try of the half, with another cross field kicked pass, finding the winger who picked up the ball in his stride to score, this time the conversion was added 

The second half proved hard work for Tigers, which much of it with them camped deep in their own half, the home side turned the screw with another try, and a conversion, but it was Tigers that finished the game with the final try of the afternoon as Jim Storey crossed the try line to score, Alsop was unable to add the conversion as the game finished in a 43-20 defeat for the Tigers. 

The final league table showed Tigers in 6th place on 65 points, with a record of 14 wins and 8 losses, the final score saw Ipswich claim the runners up spot