Saturday 30th
January 2010
Warriors grind out Thurston win
Woodbridge applied early pressure against our old foes on a good
pitch in bright, chilly sunshine. Playing downhill and with the
wind and sun we clearly thought the first half presented an
opportunity to get a good lead and first victory at Thurston for 5
years. We won the first two scrums and a line-out against the head,
while they struggled to get any space in their own 22. Johno nearly
scored and, after a drop out from a scrum penalty against Thurston
for foot up, John Crowther carried and Adrian scored. In the shadow
of the Bury Free Press photographer’s obscene camera lens John Y
converted.
Thurston came back at us determined from the restart, their no 8
driving hard and forcing some grinding defence until the pressure
forced Jimmy to concede a penalty for in at the side and their No
12 took 3 points. Woodbridge countered swiftly and it was only
three minutes before Eddie won a penalty for John to take three
back. The game continued to slide to and fro as hard-won territory
was lost by both sides as they failed to break good defence in the
opposition’s 22 and the ball was sent sailing back down the field
for the packs to have to grind out the territory all over again.
Despite Thurston being lifted by an early Donny yellow card we
probably had the balance of the game, but too often promising
opportunities for both sides were snuffed out by penalties such a
sure-try run by Donny, several needle runs from the Warrior backs
and the first of a few great rolling mauls by Thurston which was
fumbled on the pass-out and knocked on. It was clear that the
forwards were under particular pressure as John Crowther had to be
substituted, injured, for the spring lamb that is Duncan Andrews
who helped win a couple more line outs against the head but
couldn’t help prevent a tremendous rolling maul from Thurston who
pushed us the entire width of our 22 against inadequate defence for
their No 8 to score and their No12 to convert to the delight of an
increasingly perky home crowd. There followed a great opportunity
for us to regain the lead when we had several attempts at their
goal line - the best of which from Johno Cooke who charged at the
Thurston defence two times in succession to no effect (other than
being left dazed). After some gritty scrimmaging we won a penalty
and opted wisely to kick the three points.
Thurston started the second half with their tails up, driving us
back into conceding a penalty where their No 12 took the three
points to level the score at 13. The Woodbridge scrum held up
emphatically, winning several against the head, allowing a
sparkling run by Donny down the left when he was pushed out but
after several phases of play we still hadn’t crossed their 5m line
and so unsurprisingly Yorke took a penalty opportunity to kick but,
uncharacteristically, missed. Woodbridge forwards maintained
continued attacks, Andy Brown, Jimmy Mayhew and Oli Gray
outstanding, but were rebuffed by a determined home pack until Ben
MacIntyre broke through just enough to get a two-stage put down
which John ‘Mr 77%’ Yorke converted.
They reacted with predictable tenacity as the substitutions
accelerated and the game went through an aerial phase (Josh
producing some crackers), before settling centrally as the two
teams tested each others defences. In the last quarter Thurston’s
fly half also found some tremendous touch kicks to pin us back in
our own 22 but their line outs failed to produce results against an
alert and organised Woodbridge as the pressure and stamina saw an
increase in penalties, yellow cards and injury. Thurston were
reduced to 14 men towards the end of the game but it failed to
dampen their enthusiasm to win and they ended the tough, ugly match
with a last minute flourish denied by some great do-or-die tackles
from Ben and Donny.
Final score: Thurston 13 - Woodbridge Warriors 20
Coach’s Man of the Match: Oli Gray
Woodbridge Warriors; 1 Harris, 2 Herring, 3 Codd, 4 Brown, 5
Crowther, 6 Gray, 7 Mayhew, 8 Cooke, 9 Johnson, 10 Simpkin-Betts,
11 Richardson 12 Sanday, 13 Macintyre, 14 D Steward, 15 Yorke.
Replacements: 16 Andrews, 17 Manning, 19 Biul.
Ipswich YM; 1 Vooght, 2 Naylor, 3 Swere, 4 Abercrombe, 5 Paxman,
6 T Mould, 7 Hinton, 8 Tommo, 9 Allen, 10 Luke, 11 Sinclair, 12,
Causton, 13 J Mould, 14 Jo, 15 Guest.