Ipswich 21 – 28 Southwold
Wold Bounce Back To Form And Conquer Battling Ipswich In Classic Encounter
The Wold train in recent weeks had come off the rails and one could even say it had been suffering from a lack of team coal to heat the water in its boiler and hence it had only been freewheeling as opposed to earlier in the season when it had been blessed with plenty of fire and consequently had started its league journey with a full head of steam.
The dismal display against Cantabs the previous week became a distant memory as the hard tackling free flowing rugby appeared again from this young Wold side inspired by the dominant front row of props Des Brett and Chris Aldous, both now fully back from injury and a heroic display from the 18 year old Colt Callum Easton at hooker who looked like a regular at this level despite his age. Couple that inspiration with the returning Josh Wallis and Ollie Carlstroem and the recipe for Wolds change of form was complete, with each and every player playing their part.
It must have given Coach Seb Anthony great pleasure to get on over on his friend and long time associate Nick Greenhall, now the Ipswich Coach who himself had spent several years helping to coach at Wold and indeed had been a part of the Wold success story over recent years.
It was the home side who put points on the board first when they were awarded a try wide on the right following a fine individual run, despite the fact that the ball appeared to have been dropped at the vital moment.
That decision seemed to fire Wold up and two minutes later the score was 7 – 7 when Wold elected to take a scrum from a penalty five metres out and simply shoved Ipswich backwards for Jamie Jenner to touch down at No 8 much to his obvious delight and Luke Wade added the extra two points to level the score.
Ipswich were never in front again and on the half hour Ollie Carlstroem broke strongly down the left hand side and Cemil Duruk dived in for a great try in the corner. Luke Wade just missed out on the extra points against the wind but Wold had their noses in front at 7 – 12. Luke Wade himself at No 10 then made a great break and the crowd thought he had scored as he dived for the line but he was inches short and that was his last part in the game as in his efforts to score he turned his ankle and had to leave the field.
It was a blow for Wold but up stepped Josh Wallis from full back to No 10 only having played in that position once before but he turned out to be a superb substitute for Wade and slotted a penalty on 38 minutes to increase Wold’s lead to 7 – 15.
Ipswich then scored possibly the best try of the game with a well worked move from their backs and an amazing running line that saw Wold’s defence cut open with an unstoppable try from nearly the halfway line and with the subsequent conversion good there was only one point in it at the half time whistle in Wold’s favour at 14 – 15.
Eight minutes in to the second half Wold had a scrum on the right on the ten metre line and a good ball saw a quick break down the blind side and the evergreen wing Ritchie Thickett finished off the move strongly for a great diving try in the corner. Josh Wallis slotted beautifully from the touchline and Wold were eight points to the good.
Ipswich just would not lie down and surrender and the game was turning in to a classic as their lightning quick backs outpaced the Wold defence down the right wing and the gleeful Winger was able to get nearly to the posts before he was cut off but still managed a fine Chris Aston type swallow dive to ground the ball and the lead was back to one point at 21 – 22 following the easy kick for the two extra points.
Twelve minutes from time Wallis slotted another penalty as Wold piled on the pressure and began to dominate possession and territory.
Wold could have had one or possibly two more tries in that final quarter but were thwarted by some loose handling and desperate defending by Ipswich which included a deliberate knock-on eight minutes from time which the ref spotted and Josh Wallis added another three points to make the final score 21 – 28.
Ipswich never threatened again and tempers flared a little towards the end of the game but Wold fully deserved their victory in this first ever league game between the two sides, Wold also leapfrogging Ipswich in the league table to climb up to 7th place.
MOM Josh Wallis, full back, fly half, kicker, good looking and lovely hair.
ARN THE WOLD !!
All pictures courtesy Linda Cayley
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