RUGBY UNION: Ipswich 10 Hadleigh 32. Ipswich crashed out of the Intermediate Cup on Saturday and deserved to do so. For 30 minutes they dominated Hadleigh and looked to have the game by the scruff of the neck.
RUGBY UNION
Ipswich 10 Hadleigh 32
IPSWICH crashed out of the Intermediate Cup on Saturday and deserved to do so. For 30 minutes they dominated Hadleigh and looked to have the game by the scruff of the neck.
Ipswich pinned Hadleigh in their 22-metre area and moved the ball to good effect, testing the Hadleigh defence time and time again.
Perhaps the best weapon at Ipswich's disposal at this stage was a formidable driving maul, for which the visitors' only defence was to collapse the drives.
Eventually from a resulting scrummage, Bryn Kerr broke down the blind side to open the scoring.
But as half time approached, hero Bryn turned villain. When another driving maul was illegally collapsed, the referee allowed play to carry on, Kerr remonstrated too eagerly and the referee awarded a penalty against the scrum half and then marched them a further ten metres as Kerr's objections continued.
From this position Hadleigh punted the ball into touch, from the resulting lineout the Hadleigh fly half cut inside some poor midfield tackles to score under the posts.
Ill discipline, followed by some poor individual skill had allowed Hadleigh to take the lead, against the run of play, and the injustice seemed to affect Ipswich.
On the stroke of half time, their fly half once again took the ball from the scrum half at the base of the scrum; he stepped inside Coker, and simply ran in from 20 metres out.
Half time did not help cool the Ipswich temperament and the second half became an embarrassment for the home support.
As the scrums disintegrated, Hadleigh pressurised effectively, turning over ball in the loose and counter attacked well. They too often found the Ipswich defence weak, brushing off tackles and making ground. Their backs kicked well, pushing Ipswich back and the pressure soon led to tries.
Ipswich will need to find a missing ingredient before Saturday's home league game against high flying Old Albanians – team spirit.
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