A great night of and for rugby

From the kick-off it was clearly going to be a brutal battle. Indeed the first 20 minutes was as intense a performance anyone had seen all season. A yellow card each, 10 minutes in, was simply an indication of the overflowing passion. It was end to end stuff with huge hits raining in all over the park until finally Wold broke the deadlock when the ball went down the line and Jon Utting scored in the corner. Josh duly added the two.

Wold then needed to defend a concerted onslaught in our 22 which we just about managed to do before our backs broke out reaching their 22. After a few initial forays the backs executed a move slicing the Ipswich backs in half and Jon scored his second under the posts which Josh converted. 25 minutes in and 14 points up.

Ipswich had 10 on the bench to our one but as all coaches know this is not always an advantage. However, after the intensity of the match to date fresh legs gave the home team a definite boost and they managed to score two tries in the last 5 minutes of the half reducing our lead to just 2 points.

Hooker, Angus McDaniel, who had a fantastic half had to retire at half time with a shoulder injury and we had to borrow a front rower from Ipswich. Our gratitude to Alex who duly stepped up and filled the role.

It was like watching a game of tennis with possession shared equally and the action yoyo-ing from end to end. The physicality and intensity hardly abated throughout the second half and after 20 minutes Southwold were finally overcome by Ipswich who muscled over the line under the posts.

Wold fought back and after a few failed attempts and a little white line fever we went blind and Josh Wallis bundled over the line. Moments before Josh's hit on their centre, driving him back nearly 10 meters, got the biggest whoop of the night from the supporters.

As we went in to the last 10 minutes of the game 2 points up it was anyone's game. How our lads kept going was extraordinary but they did despite a few cramping up. The game remained poised up to the final whistle which, to the relief of Wold, happened a few meters from our try line after a final monster hit from Ben Crick dislodged the ball.

What a great spectacle and great advert for rugby. Every player on both sides deserves credit for their efforts and the final score was irrelevant - almost!

It seemed unfair to single out individuals for Player of the Match however our Forward of the Match was Milo Cawkwell for an outstanding performance even for his high standards and our Back of the Match was Jonny Utting for his management of our Back 3 not to mention his brace of tries.

The spirit of the team was summed-up by one guy saying "It is great to get the Wold shirt on again" which also illustrates the overall principle of all the U21s matches as ex-Colts return from Uni to meet up. Long may it continue.

Arn the U21s