Rugby, Ipswich..........23 Twickenham...22IPSWICH managed to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat on Saturday and secured two valuable points in London Division Two North.Ipswich trailed the visitors for much of the game and, although they looked the better side, struggled to keep possession for any length of time in an error-strewn match.

IPSWICH managed to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat on Saturday and secured two valuable points in London Division Two North.

Ipswich trailed the visitors for much of the game and, although they looked the better side, struggled to keep possession for any length of time in an error-strewn match.

Ipswich dominated the scrummage, which allowed Blythe to control the game from the base. His powerful runs set up much of Ipswich's best ball in attack.

Hughes, back in the centre with Johnson, also looked dangerous, but the defence in the back line still needs work.

Coach Guy Atherton said: "We have had to make wholesale changes in the backs every week, which is making it difficult to work on our unit defence. We will need to put in a lot of work before next week's game against Sudbury."

Twickenham took full advantage of this fact and their outside centre always seemed able to make the half-break that opened the underbelly of the Ipswich defence. The visitors capitalised on this twice in the first half.

Ipswich responded with a Coker penalty and a great individual try from full-back Harding, who stepped outside the centre and then cut back inside the full-back to finish a wonderful flowing movement from the Ipswich backs.

Twickenham's second try was the result of a lucky rebound against the run of play, but meant that Ipswich were behind as they turned to play into the wind.

Twickenham's tactics seemed to be to slow the Ipswich ball at the tackle and when Briggenshaw used his studs with a little too much relish for the referee's liking he found himself sitting out the next ten minutes in the sin bin.

Twickenham made the extra man pay, sending their winger sprinting over to touch down under the posts with the easy conversion putting them 19-8 ahead.

Twickenham pushed forward again and were only kept out at the expense of a penalty, which they kicked to extend their lead.

Ipswich were on the rack, but Price drove his forwards back into the fray and they responded to drive deep into the visitors' half. Twickenham once again killed the ball and Coker clawed three points back with the boot.

From a line-out, the Ipswich pack drove a rolling maul steadily closer to the Twickenham line and when the visitors collapsed the drive Price decided to go for the scrum. The forwards held firm and Blythe raced away to drive through the tackles to score a crucial try, with the conversion cutting the deficit to 22-18.

The momentum had turned and Ipswich started to move the ball with more confidence. The

forwards took control, but silly mistakes kept letting Twickenham off the hook.

As the final seconds ticked away, the ball was moved to Van Heerden, on for the injured Keatling, and he straightened the line and floated the ball to Novosad.

He took off for the line, outpaced his winger, drove into the full-back's tackle and virtually crawled the last five metres to touch down in the corner. This won the match for Ipswich and Novosad was the hero of the day.