Southwold U16’s lift the Suffolk Plate. Southwold 10 Ipswich 7 (3-2-08) Not to be out done by the senior team who last weekend beat Ipswich YM to win the Senior Suffolk Plate, the U16’s from Southwold played a hard, well coached Ipswich side, to taste Victory in the County Competition. With Southwold not stringing the results together so well this season, it was good to see the smiles back, and the lads reach the potential that they obviously have. Southwold have suffered with injuries and unavailability this season and only had a squad of 16 available for the match and when an hour before kick off, they lost fly half Max Scotchmer to a stomach bug, the coaches feared the worse. However after a few phone calls, up stepped Alex Manning and Tom Doy from the Under 15’s. Both played superb games, Manning’s kicking from hand was precise and Doy’s defensive work immense. Matt Keely, Vivek Valmiki and Richard Lee in the Back Row were all over the pitch, not giving the Ipswich backs any time to mount any sustained attacks. Scrum half Will Hawkins made good use of the ball from set pieces and snipped well around the fringes. In the first half with the wind at their back, Ipswich kicked for possession when they could. However Full Back Henry Carroll is learning his trade well, and was a constant threat on counter attacks. Olly O’Neill and Tom Leftley on the wings were given several chances to show their pace and only dogged defence from the Ipswich backs stopped them scoring. The first try for Southwold came midway through the first half. The Southwold forwards applied pressure with a series of driving mauls, lead by Timmy Ball and Ian James and ably assisted by Matt Smith and Eden Seager. Hawkins called for the ball and popped it to a rampaging Adam Woodrow, who burst who through several attempted tackles to touch down. The conversion was missed and Southwold lead 5-0 at half time. In the second half, Southwold used the wind to their advantage, pinning the Ipswich boys in their 22 for large parts of the half. There were repeated attacks from the forwards including Zak Sahrman who came on for Smith. Southwold could and perhaps should have extended their lead. But after a series of knock on’s, dropped passes and errors, Tom Leftleg was given a little space. He handed off two attempted tackles and touched down for a 10-0 lead. Again the kick was missed. Ipswich then scored a great try. Passing well and linking with their big 2nd rows who drove at the Southwold defence. The ball passed through several pair of hands and the try scored under the posts. The conversion was kicked and with 10 minutes to go, the Ipswich tails were up. A quick shuffle in the backs saw Josh Crick at fly half. With his direct approach Southwold tightened up the game. Held on to the ball and ran the clock down. Perhaps not the most attractive Rugby, but certainly very effective. The final whistle was greeted by cheers from the Southwold supporters and players and relief for the coaches. It was a deserved victory, played in great spirit by a team of lads who should be proud of their achievement.