A successful weekend for the U15s on and off the pitch

A good weekend for the team which kicked-off on Saturday with a bag-packing fundraiser at Tesco's in Beccles, which raised a staggering £1020. The star team were Joey and Milo who raised £129.57 between them. This is a great boost for the tour funds.

A big thanks to Ben Sutton for organising this event, to all the parents who helped out and/or delivered their sons, to Sam and Kate from Tescos and to all the boys. The boys were genuinely a credit to the club. Indeed the only people we upset seem to be Beccles RFC for fundraising in their back yard.

Despite some earlier gloomy forecasts, Sunday was snowless and actually quite warm. Apart from being a wee slippy under foot it was the perfect day for rugby. We were hosting our friends from Hadleigh and it was our fourth meet this year.

The boys were clearly still half asleep for the first 20 minutes. Fortunately, Josh was awake and spotted a gap created by their backs coming up too quickly and ran our first try in under the posts. They then retaliated with a try a few minutes later. We then missed three opportunities fumbling over the line or falling just short. A blistering run and superb angle saw Ben S over the line to score his first try for many games. This seemed to change the mood. Not long after this Ben F kicked long in to space and Jon gave chase. He duly collected the ball and scored under the posts. This was followed shortly after by our best try of the game when consistent pressure and good passing saw Brannan over the line in the corner. Our other winger, Luke, was back on form with several dashes down the wing, swerving and breaking tackles as he went. Unfortunately the ground was so soft that he slipped on one of these runs and turned his knee again. Let's hope for a speedy recovery, but it looks like he may be out for the rest of the season.

With two conversions from Ben F, we were 22-7 up at the turn and feeling fairly comfortable. But we were now playing into the 25mph Southwold wind and after two converted tries from Hadleigh we started to feel decidedly uncomfortable as the scores evened-up. Fortunately we were winning all our scrums and, thanks to Jack C, some of theirs. We were unusually winning a few lin-outs too. But they were more aggressive and hungry around the loose ball and we struggled to find any shape again which allowed them to exploit the gaps. It was just sheer guts and teamwork that kept them off our try line on several occasions. This teamwork in defence suddenly turned to attack and it was a huge relief when Jack A broke from a driving maul to bulldoze himself over their line, leaving several big lads strewn on the ground in his wake. Unfortunately he picked up a nasty knock in the process. Ben F duly converted (in to the wind) and with only a few minutes left we had done just enough.

We managed to play all 21 players, many of then out of position for parts of the game. Though we clearly lack fitness and shape, we now have strength in depth. We have five capable front rowers, as many capable second rowers and fiver more back rowers who, on their day, can match almost anyone. Combine this with a set of half backs and backs who love to fling it around, we have the makings and skills of a good team. We just need more discipline, aggression and shape.

One of our Men of the Match was Luke but he was unable to stand up to down the coke! So the spoils were shared by Morgan, who returned to the fold after a lengthy break and who showed some real commitment and tenacity at flanker, and Tom C who's handling and passing on such a windy day was excellent. Morgan and Tom duly won the boat race with ease.

Not including the Suffolk Sevens, we have won 7 and lost 3 so far this season with a total of 229 points for and 245 against (132 of which we conceded in two matches!).