Ipswich YM were defeated 24-8 at home on Saturday as West Norfolk reclaimed their place at the top of Eastern Counties 1.

The hosts started brightly with the wind at their backs, putting West under pressure with some strong running from their larger forwards, coupled with intelligent kicking to the corners. This led to a converted penalty, followed by a well-worked string of attacking rucks, which allowed them to score out wide to take an early 8-0 advantage.

West then began to move the ball effectively from the restart, utilising their pacy backs and winger Jake Richardson cut a sublime line to outpace the Ipswich defenders and score the visitors’ first try. Brad Cook converting.

With Ipswich beginning to give away penalties, West were able to get within range for further driving mauls from the lineout. This resulted in captain Lawrence Savage crashing over under a pile of bodies to score Wests second.

Just before half time, another infringement by the hosts saw a carbon copy move from the lineout, with Lawrence Savage once again the benefactor, completing his brace following a superb drive from the West pack.

The hosts fought back hard with the forwards battering the West defence. However, the visitors held firm thanks to some crunching tackles and skilful turn overs at the break downs from the likes of Henry Rust, Conor Tuck and Christian Newton-Walters.

With ten minutes to go and victory now in sight, West turned up the heat in search of an additional try bonus point. A powerful drive from the forwards ended with scrum half Ollie Ridout bursting down the left blind side to score his first senior try. Joe Butt adding the extras.

Ipswich reacted fiercely and began a last ditch attempt to add to their tally, but Wests defence held firm.