Ipswich U/15 V Kesgrave School U/15 20 November 2007

Ipswich 34 Kesgrave 7

Following the open invite to local schools to come and have a match with us at the club, the first to take up the offer has been Kesgrave High, with a team led by the inspirational Mr Martin Page. Due in no small part to the passion and commitment being put into year ten rugby by this teacher, this school has the accolade of being comfortably the largest supplier of players to the Ipswich squad. Of course, on this occasion, the (six) Kesgrave lads would be playing against their club colleagues, for the school. Nearly half of the school team were therefore regular club players and the rest are in regular school team action against other schools. Rest assured the Ipswich players realised that this special match would be no walk over.

As match day ticked on towards kick off, the biggest and very real threat to the game was the weather. It had rained heavily on Monday and most of the night. Tuesday saw continued rainfall all the way up to and during the match. A very real risk of the club pulling the plug on the use of the pitch existed, but thankfully was not realised.

In the end, the pitch was very playable although soft on top. This clearly suited the forwards in both teams and prevented some of the more outrageous back line moves of the hosts being attempted (thank goodness for that then!).

Despite the match being scheduled to start only two and a half hours after the end of the school day, such was the dedication of the Kesgrave lads that nineteen keen players turned out (with the necessary supporting parents). Surely a very impressive number for an extra curricular engagement and again, credit to the players and teacher.

On with the game and unfortunately due to the torrid conditions your reporter wasn’t able to make his usual copious scribbled notes. What has slipped from the memory by the time of writing, does embarrassingly include the identity of the Kesgrave try scorer and the exact role call of the Ipswich scorers, also. (This can be rectified later! - Ed)

Playing under the flood lights in falling rain throughout, it was the home side who made the biggest impact on the score board for the first half of the match. The difference in terms of points was in the region of fifteen, with the visitors yet to trouble the scorers. All those watching this match unfold, however, were united in the opinion that the score then, and ultimately at the end, flattered the hosts and did little to reflect the strong foothold in the match by the visitors.

The second half of the match saw Kesgrave really begin to make their presence felt. Large periods were played in the Ipswich half of the pitch and eventually the deserved score was made. Towards the game’s end, the home team started to re-assert themselves in the “twenty two” of Kesgrave. Even at this late hour, the school lads were defiant and refused to allow their line to be easily breached. Some top notch defending was the lasting memory as referee, Mr Grimwood ended the game with Ipswich being held back and held up at the end of the last attack of the encounter.

As close as can be recalled, Ipswich scorers were; Ben Grimwood, Tom Clift (2) George Meggs, & Kyle Hedges. George Solomon kicked two successful conversions. (Ed - that makes 29)

Sam Canham kicked the conversion to the Kesgrave try.

So in review, a great occasion, especially for the school lads unaccustomed to match action in a club setting, with a standard of rugby to do justice to the effort put in by all to get the fixture together at all. Already, positive enquiries have been fielded by interested Kesgrave parents, with a view to their boys taking part further with the Ipswich Club. Anticipation of a repeated fixture, next season, is now firmly in place.

DS.