IPSWICH Rugby Club's Under-13 side gained a small piece of revenge over their close rivals Colchester recently at the Diss Rugby Festival.The two sides have been dominating youth rugby at their age group this season, but when the two met in the Suffolk Cup final earlier this season it was Ipswich that were left disappointed come the full-time whistle.

IPSWICH Rugby Club's Under-13 side gained a small piece of revenge over their close rivals Colchester recently at the Diss Rugby Festival.

The two sides have been dominating youth rugby at their age group this season, but when the two met in the Suffolk Cup final earlier this season it was Ipswich that were left disappointed come the full-time whistle.

The Suffolk youngsters, who are playing their first season of full 15-a-side rugby, were able to balance things out recently though when roles were reversed in the final of the Diss Rugby Festival.

Having battled through three pool matches, a quarter-final and a semi-final, Ipswich and Colchester's Under-13s met yet again in a final.

This time though Ipswich emerged the victors courtesy of a single first half try from full-back Henry Alexander, who scored with a mesmerising piece of running.

Colchester came back in the second half and spent most of the time camped in Ipswich's half, however a gutsy and determined performance from the Ipswich side kept the Essex side from scoring.

Ipswich coach Johnny Breedt said: “I always felt that it would be an Ipswich v Colchester final. Once that happened I believed in the boys and knew that, if we held onto the ball, we had a very good chance of winning. The key was to convince the players that they could do it because in the past they seemed to lose confidence every time they faced Colchester.

“This is the best I have seen these boys play, they believed in their ability and played for each other. I am very positive about the future of these guys.

“There is a lot of talent amongst them and I know they will be a very successful side over the years.”

Ipswich's No.8 and captain Pete Clift said: “I believe we won because we played together as a team. It felt awesome to win the festival by beating our rivals, Colchester.”

In all, 13 teams from Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Essex made the journey to compete for the title of Hammond Land Rover Champions.

Ipswich started their challenge by drawing their first game against Wymondham 5-5, Breedt believing that his side took time to adapt to the shortened match format of six minutes each way.

Breedt soon instructed his side to be patient and not to give the ball away cheaply and his players responded well by sailing through the rest of the pool games without conceding a try.

First they beat the Colchester B side 20-0 before grinding out a tough 5-0 victory over Newmarket.

Having finished top of their pool, Ipswich then went on to beat Beccles 35-0 in the quarter-finals. Breedt said: “To score six tries in 12 minutes in a quarter-final is extremely good, the team did well to turn defence into attack.”

Ipswich then beat Newmarket in a closely fought first semi-final, while Colchester beat Shelford in the second semi-final.