Aldeburgh (31) vs Ipswich YM Hawks (28)

Due to a postponement by Woodbridge 2s and Aldeburgh having their game been given as a home walk over by the opposition, the Hawks management team secured a friendly last minute against our well-respected opposition & friendly rival by the Seaside.

The Hawks weren’t able to have a preseason friendly due to the dry summer so this was a chance for the YM team to try things in a low pressure environment and the attitude and togetherness by the Hawks really shone through.

This however may have slightly backfired, in true Hawks fashion they took some time to get going, but slightly more egregiously - Aldeburgh chose to convert an early penalty in the first 5 minutes – in a friendly!

The Aldeburgh Fly Half converting set the theme for the whole day. YM finally started to wake up and worked themselves into the corner of the Aldeburgh half. After a Line Out YM managed to spread the opposition defence leaving a gap in between the attackers for Danny Brown to get through and score the YMs first try. Simon Arnold converted making it 7-3.

After giving away a penalty in the YM half, the opposition then kicked to the bottom corner from their own half. After the line out was taken another penalty was given for not rolling away by the YM.

Aldeburgh spread the ball well and looped over the YM defence, going over in the far corner. They get the conversion and take a 10-7 lead.
YM still had time to reply in the first half and the YM build well on the last play of the half, running great structure driven by the Stand In fly half Adam Sawyer, Nathan Richards finally working his way over. Arnold Converts, YM took the lead at half time10-14.

In the spirit of the friendly changes where made to allow players game time which meant a slightly disjointed team for the second half.
The opposition 10 scoring two pretty similar tries after a few too many missed tackles by the Hawks, they converted both and took a 24-14 lead.

YM played some good rugby in an even game and after Simon Arnold manages to box kick a 50-22 roughly 20 yards out.
Pack Leader Danny Brown orders a driving mau and they drive the opposition back, Brown himself being the scorer. Simon Arnold converting again.

Unfortunately, the YM dropped the ball from the resulting Kick Off in the centre of the field, Aldeburgh splitting the centres but moved well, the 12 and 10 linking greatly after drifting over to the YMs right. A couple of missed tackles means that the 10 got his hat trick and took the lead with roughly 10 minutes to go.

YMs fight is plain to see in this squad, and their never say dive attitude meant that Akuila Ratabalavu (Billy) Pitbull like tendencies came through. Billy scraps for the ball after the KO and the YM build into the top corner of the Aldeburgh pitch.
After a melee on the line, Danny Brown muscles over for his hattrick and a nervy last 5 for the hosts. Arnold completing his perfect day with the Tee and converting.

Unfortunately though for the visitors no further points where scored and the hosts secured a 31-28 win. Matches with Aldeburgh tend to be close, highly contested affair and despite the author's protests, penalties do count in friendlies and the early conversion being the only difference between the two sides.

There was a lot of great performances by the YM, with mentions for senior members of the team like Simon Arnold and Danny Brown in the report, but they were given the chance to get the glory based upon performances from others.

The YM Flankers – Owen Steward and Joe Pearce played excellently. Steward having obvious talent that will come with game time. Pearce tackling everything and his Line Outs again gave YM good ball.

The General Consensus however on the side line was that Az Makhdum was the MotM for the Hawks in only his second performance for the club, he has settled well and the tighthead was a base a for a great YM Scrum.

Special thanks go to Barrie Alford who refereed the game allowing others game time and special thanks to Aldeburgh for hosting us at short notice. The food as always being a personal favourite of the author and the Pulled Pork baps and chips were excellent.

The Hawks are bottom of their conference currently, however, have 3 games in hand on others and could make second by winning their final games; performances, attitude and togetherness shown the past two weeks show that this is possible.

Report by Jonny Godzicz