IPSWICH YM RUFC First XV v IPSWICH RUGBY CLUB First XV Match Report

Ipswich quickly established forward dominance in the scrum in a repeat of the pattern of play witnessed in the fixture at Humber Doucy Lane earlier in the season. The YM forward pack were shunted backwards conceding penalties in ominous signs of a difficult afternoon to come. The referee indicated an early preference for his whistle rather than allowing advantage play to flow with a series of penalties awarded to Ipswich who understandably elected for the scrum given their early dominance. The YM defence was resolute until Ipswich deservedly powered over from a series of rucks close to the try line for the opening try after 11 minutes of play entirely in the YM half. The conversion was missed. YM 0 – Ipswich 5.

The YM backs always looked dangerous when they could get clean ball and this was demonstrated when YM’s George Hendry neatly chipped the ball over the advancing Ipswich defence for Nicky Van der Linde to chase and agonisingly just fail to gather the awkwardly bouncing ball on the try line. This energised and gave confidence to YM and resulted in a series of impressive forward and back interplay with Ipswich now under pressure and conceding penalty infringements. YM’s James Tabor kicked a penalty to narrow the score after 24 minutes. YM 3 – Ipswich 5.

But Ipswich responded immediately from the restart with good forward interplay resulting in a powerful line break in midfield combined with strong support running and handling leading to a try in the corner. The conversion was missed. YM 3 – Ipswich 10.

YM’s Kieran Rudland and his opposite number were both given yellow cards for a disagreement in a ruck on 35 minutes and the YM defence were again put under pressure as Ipswich looked for a further score as the first half drew to a close. Ipswich wing, Ed Parkin, making a huge tackle and winning a turnover penalty typified the effort displayed by YM.

But a 5m scrum for Ipswich again allowed them to breach the YM try line in the final play of the half. The conversion was missed with the half-time score YM 3 – Ipswich 15.

The second half was a much closer affair with both sides effectively cancelling each other’s threats out aside from two passages of play. The first was a penalty try awarded to Ipswich for an infringement at a scrum. Somewhat confusingly, YM winger Ed Parkin was given a yellow card for the scrum penalty. YM 3 – Ipswich 22.

In the closing minutes of the game the YM backs again showed their prowess with centre Corey Parfitt strongly breaking the Ipswich line and accelerating into their half before passing the ball neatly to Nicky Van der Linde for a deserved and impressive try in the corner. The conversion was missed with the final score YM 8 – Ipswich 22.

We are the Y!