Colchester Vs v Aldeburgh Match Report

Colchester Vs v Aldeburgh

22nd January – at Colchester

Result: Colchester 43 - Aldeburgh 20

The Magnificent Twelve

Amid the impressive surroundings of Colchester’s acres of pitches and huge, modern clubhouse, twelve intrepid Aldeburgh players turned up to make a match of it. Colchester sportingly provided players to enable a game to take place. The two sides could not have been more different. Colchester could not be said to have a young side but they had retained their toughness and gained wiliness with the years. Aldeburgh, on the other hand, with their heavier forwards unavailable, had a team of fast-paced youngsters. A case of the bludgeon against the rapier.

The pattern was set early on with powerful Colchester runs sucking in Aldeburgh tacklers. Aldeburgh responded with evasive running without quite being able to make it count. The line outs were ineffective – Aldeburgh couldn’t win any and Colchester couldn’t throw straight – which led to plenty of scrums where Colchester were dominant.

Both sides showed their strengths in the first quarter of an hour. Robert Poll made the first of many weaving runs from full back (which earned him the man of the match accolade), linking well with Adam Hateley, at outside centre. The power of Colchester was such that there was no way through, only round. Colchester, however, took the direct route while recycling the ball well until Aldeburgh ran out of tacklers, enabling the right wing to score in the corner after 15 minutes.

The same winger collected a clearance kick with space to get speed up enabling him to burst through several tackles before being brought down by a tackle near the line adjudged to be high. Colchester took the scrum, drove Aldeburgh back, moved the ball out to the outside centre who powered over under the posts for a converted try. 12-0.

After half an hour, Lee Buckle (prop) had to leave the field following a bang on the head. Colchester, to their credit, provided a replacement. More good runs by Robert Poll led to a penalty which was quickly taken. Jon Hunt (normally a No 8, playing second row) ran hard and slipped an inside pass to Ed Robson who went over for Aldeburgh’s first points.

As the game went on, the Colchester No 8 was gaining confidence in his ability to break tackles. His running was a powerful weapon which led to two more tries by his teammates before half time at which the score was 22-5.

Aldeburgh made a good start to the second half with more incisive runs by Robert Poll. A quick penalty by scrum half, Tom Ridgeon, gained 20 metres but still there was no breakthrough. Colchester bounced back, continuing their approach from the end of the first half, resulting in two more tries to take the score to 36-5 after 12 minutes of the second half. It looked as though it could get messy.

Despite everything, the game remained competitive. Aldeburgh turned the ball over, broke out of their own half, recycled the ball to prop, Matt Elias, 30 metres from the line. He sidestepped one defender before beating another for pace on the outside to score a superb try in the corner.

After 23 minutes, Robert Poll set off on yet another brilliant run. It looked as though he was gaining in belief that he could eventually get through. Sadly, in the tackle he hit his head on the ground which meant that, as a precaution, he left the field. Colchester provided yet another replacement who played a solid, defensive game but could not replicate Robert’s attacking ability.

With 15 minutes left, Colchester’s No 8 yet again broke through tackles to enable a try which took the score to 43-10. It would have been easy to give up at that point but not so. An excellent move by Aldeburgh’s backs nearly led to a try. In the loose play after the ensuing line out, flanker Lewis Wardell Bird simply ripped the ball from the opposition and dived over unstoppably.

Aldeburgh kept coming. After more pressure, a quick penalty got the ball to Jon Hunt who was not going to let anyone prevent him from scoring the try which gained a bonus point. Credit to the Aldeburgh team for scoring the last two tries in a match in which they took a physical pounding. They tackled hard and bravely throughout with a special mention to the two flankers, Lewis Wardell Bird and Aonghus (pronounced Angus) Anderson whose tackle count was especially high.

Thanks are due to Club Chairman, Lee Barber, for acting as first aider, water boy, kicking tee provider and touch judge! Well done to Freddie Burgess for standing in as captain after club skipper, Tristan Revell, was unable to play having had his appendix removed on Wednesday.

Bury St Edmunds 4s v Aldeburgh Match Report

Bury St Edmunds 4s v Aldeburgh

29th January – at Bury

Result: Bury 19 - Aldeburgh 19

Tight match, thrilling finish

For the second week in a row, Aldeburgh took fewer than 15 players to an away match yet played a full part in an enthralling encounter. Bury supplied one player throughout but that left Aldeburgh playing with one fewer player for the whole game. Despite that handicap, it was an even game throughout until the thrilling denouement.

It was a fine afternoon with excellent conditions other than the layer of mud which covered the pitch. Early on, Aldeburgh demonstrated again their power in forward drives close to the ruck with James Ledger (prop) taking a lead role. When the chance came, they moved the ball slickly through the backs. As Colchester did last week, Bury tended to take a more direct route although they also occasionally moved the ball wide but with less effectiveness than Aldeburgh

The line outs were scrappy but even. Bury were naturally on top in the scrums with the player advantage but Aldeburgh held them and, as the game wore on, became more adept at getting good ball from their own put-ins.

It was 20 minutes before the first score, with Bury pressing through scrums and penalties until their No 6 made a powerful, short run to score under the posts. A simple conversion gave them a 7-0 lead.

Only 5 minutes later, a second late tackle earned Bury a stern lecture from the referee and gave Aldeburgh a penalty. From the ensuing line out, the forwards drove on, several more runs were made again by Ledger, until the other prop, Matt Elias, drove over from close range. Ed Robson (fly half) converted to bring the scores level. That is how it remained at half time.

The second half started in the same way. Totally evenly matched with both sides playing some good rugby. However, after just 8 minutes, a drive by Bury from a line out was well held up by the Aldeburgh forwards who, unfortunately, kept their heads in the ruck while Bury’s No 6 (again) picked the ball up and simply ran over unopposed. The conversion was missed. 12-7.

Aldeburgh hardly had the ball for the next ten minutes. It was looking to be an uphill battle. Eventually the pressure was relieved by a splendid clearance kick by Ed Robson which took advantage of the new 50-22 rule. From the attacking line out, Aldeburgh applied pressure with a couple of good moves by the backs. Bury had the chance to clear with a penalty which went horribly wrong.

Eventually, Aldeburgh swung the ball through the hands, including those of Freddie Burgess (second row) and James Ledger, who had provided an unlikely centre partnership earlier in the season, giving Adam Hateley (centre) the opportunity to finish the move with a fine try in the corner. The missed conversion left the score at 12-12.

As the half wore on, more Aldeburgh players got knocks but carried on as there were no subs. Bury had a couple of breaks which easily could have led to tries but somehow Aldeburgh scrambled back to cover. Just when the game seemed to have petered out into a stalemate, Bury’s No 6 burst through from a ruck close to the Aldeburgh line for his hat trick try under the posts. The conversion made the score 19-12 with the referee indicating that there were only two minutes left. After the struggle to make headway throughout the second half, it looked as though Aldeburgh’s valiant efforts had come to nothing.

There was no sign of them giving up. Bury held the kick off but Aldeburgh kept at them until they regained the ball. After further strong pressure, Jon Hunt (playing second row again) powered over under the posts. When Ed Robson lined up the conversion, there was no doubt that this would be the last kick of the match. The spectators were surprised when he placed the ball on the 22 rather than giving himself a shorter kick. He backed himself to stick to his regular kicking process which kept him out of the way of the charging Bury pack as his kick sailed over to get the draw. What a finish!

Getting a draw when playing the whole game one player short was a tremendous result.It was a great team performance.All the players committed themselves and all appeared to have thoroughly enjoyed the outing.The squad is building in size and quality.If we can field a full time, we can more than hold our own against any team in this league.Next Saturday’s home match against Mistley should be a good one.

Aldeburgh v Mistley 2s Match Report

Aldeburgh v Mistley 2s

5th February – at Queen’s Field

Result: Aldeburgh 17 Mistley 42

Good effort, frustrating game

After beating Mistley away earlier in the season, Aldeburgh’s developing squad had reason to be optimistic for this game. However, Mistley brought two or three players who were not just an improvement on their previous team but a class above. They made all the difference.

Aldeburgh made a bright start using their trademark forward drives with James Ledger and Jon Hunt leading the way. Within a few minutes, Mistley responded with forward drives of their own. A penalty was kicked deep into the corner. A good line out and drive took them over the line but they were held up. The subsequent drop out from the try line was knocked on but Mistley showed their dominance at the scrum from which their fly half stepped inside. The pack came in to support and drove over under the posts for the first score which was converted.

The next 15 minutes was give and take with Aldeburgh increasingly gaining an advantage by moving the ball wider. Scrum half, Jed Gallant, made a superb break. While Mistley retained their dominance in the scrum, the Aldeburgh pack held them enough to get usable ball. Indeed, the move which led to Aldeburgh’s first try began with a pick up from the base of a scrum by Lewis Wardell Bird, who had another splendid game in the back row. Good linking play got the ball to Adam Hateley, playing in the centre this week, who finished well. Ed Robson’s conversion was a superb effort against the wind but it was too strong for him. 5-7 after 20 minutes. Game on.

At this stage, one of Mistley’s outstanding players, having picked up the ball on the wing, simply powered his way through several attempted tackles to score a fine try. Their kicker had an exceptional afternoon by kicking all the conversions despite the difficult conditions in such a strong, blustery wind. Soon afterwards, the strength of Mistley’s running was again too much giving them a 5-21 lead.

Against the run of play, the last ten minutes of the first half belonged totally to Aldeburgh as a result of keeping the ball moving wide. They showed their versatility when the ball came to Jon Hunt, second row, in the outside centre channel who sidestepped so outrageously that he sent the whole of Mistley’s back line the wrong way and opened up a gap for him to run through and beat the covering defence to the line. Somehow, Ed Robson converted into the wind.

More strong runs, this time featuring Johnny Martin, having another good game in the back row, and expansive back moves gave Danny Collett, centre, enough space to drive over. 17-21 at half time with Aldeburgh having the momentum.

Mistley made a strong start to the second half, bringing their powerful runners into play. However, the game changed its complexion after four minutes when Aldeburgh’s winger, Toby Keane, was injured. There was a ten minute delay until he was helped to walk, very gingerly, from the pitch. Not having any subs available, for the remainder of the game Aldeburgh were a man short. From a scrum after the restart, Mistley went over for another converted try and a few minutes later, their No 15 ran unstoppably from half way to make the score 17-35 with twenty minutes to go.

Aldeburgh’s defence was heroic for the rest of the game. Another injury (a bang on the head for Robert Poll, full back) took them down to 13 but Mistley sacrificed a player so that there was still only a one man advantage. It was only in the final few minutes that, after some scrappy play, Mistley managed to score one more try. Final score: 17-42

Despite Mistley having a few outstanding players, Aldeburgh showed towards the end of the first half that they could compete. It was going to be tough but once they were at a numerical disadvantage, it became a rearguard action. As always, they showed guts and determination to keep battling until the end.

It was good to see that, despite the bitter wind, a good crowd of VPs turned out to support the team.