Aldeburgh v Bury St Edmunds 4

19th October – Queen’s Field

Result: Aldeburgh 43 Bury St Edmunds 21

A splendid afternoon’s entertainment!

After a morning of rain, the sun broke through to light up a match that ebbed and flowed to provide a good contest for the players and a splendid afternoon’s entertainment for the spectators.

With Aldeburgh again short of a full squad, Bury lived up to the spirit of the Game On principles to ensure that the match could be played competitively. They supplied a player to Aldeburgh and scrums were to be uncontested.

Bury began as they always play – busy, competent, moving the ball around but ultimately not getting anywhere. There was a long early period in which Aldeburgh simply tackled. The ball did not move far out of the Bury half.

There was an early injury to Ed Collings (last week’s man of the match) who took no further part. From then on, as other players came and went, only the keenest eyed of the spectators would have known exactly how many players each team had at any time. Neither side ever appeared to have a disproportionate numerical advantage.

Bury did manage to advance to near the Aldeburgh line before being repulsed. When the Bury No 10 made a good run, we realised that he was the one to watch. After 16 minutes, we watched him run from his own half, throw a series of dummies and cross under the posts for the first try which was converted.

Although there was not a huge disparity in size, Bury had the edge which they used ten minutes later to bludgeon their way over the line for another converted try. At 14-0 after half an hour, things looked ominous for Aldeburgh who had not yet threatened the Bury line.

Somehow Aldeburgh got themselves back into the game, gaining field position to put some pressure on Bury which finally resulted in Jon Hunt powering over for a try which Ed Robson converted. Bury responded by pressing Aldeburgh back until Ed relieved the pressure with a huge clearance which Aldeburgh did well to follow up, tackle the ball carrier, regain the ball, put some slick passes together leading to a neat pop pass to Freddie Burgess who burst through and over the line. Ed converted again to bring the scores level.

With half time approaching, Bury threw over the top of a line out. Jon Hunt, playing scrum half – not his usual position, was the first to react. Again Aldeburgh moved the ball well, with Freddie and Ed linking to put Stephen Anker into a scoring position which he finished well. It is good to see Stephen back in the team after missing much of last season with an injury. The conversion hit the post but Aldeburgh still went to the break with a surprising 19-14 lead.

The sense that the momentum had shifted was confirmed early in the second half when Ed made an excellent run before putting the new blond winger in a position to go over in the corner.

As the half wore on, Aldeburgh’s backs got into their groove, linking well, moving the ball around. Ed and Ben Watts moved the ball out to Adam Hateley on the wing who made one of his signature powering runs only to be stopped on the line. The ball came back to Stephen Anker who went over for his second which Ed converted.

Aldeburgh used the throw over the top of the line out ploy effectively with Jon Hunt making twenty metres. Another superb run down the wing by Ed Robson got him almost to the line. He managed to get the ball inside towards Ben Watts who kicked on and got the touch down. Ed again converted. It seemed to be a one way street but Bury did not give up, bouncing back to get another try by forcing one of their big guys over the line.

Towards the end it got a bit scrappy until Aldeburgh again moved the ball swiftly through their back line to release Ed for the final try. In the battle of the No 10s, Ed came out on top by imposing himself on the game, getting the ball in positions where he could make a difference. The Bury No 10, after his early dazzling run, did not ever get himself into a position where he could use his skills.

A somewhat scrappy game with Aldeburgh’s core players making the difference with their skill and intent. Next week’s match sees us playing Ipswich 3 who are second in the league, to Aldeburgh’s fifth. It may give us a clearer picture of how the season will go.

Thanks are due to Paddy Allen and the Bury coach who each refereed half the match in the absence of a Society ref. It is hard to get a ref at our level these days which is tough on the coach who would much rather be doing his job on the touchline than taking on the refereeing role.

Braintree 3 v Aldeburgh

12th October – Braintree

Result: Braintree 24 Aldeburgh 41

Hard fought game at Braintree

After a somewhat soggy match; which was hard fought by both sides, greenmachine came out on top this afternoon.

Ed Collins is our man of the match this week, he put in a tremendous shift, tackled like a man possessed and made metres with the ball in hand. The highly coveted honour of d!ck of the day once again goes to our skipper Freddie Burgess, who, whilst unsuccessfully auditioning for a spot in the back line; kicked the ball, this misdemeanour was later followed by a goose step, the execution of which was questionable at best, but saw him metres from the opposition’s try line… where he subsequently spilt the ball.

Our next game is at home Saturday 19th October against Bury St Edmunds IV- see you there

Aldeburgh v Harwich 2

28th September – Queen’s Field

Result: Aldeburgh 64 Harwich 19

Rugby is back at the Queen’s Field

The sun shone, a goodly crowd of spectators turned up and there were enough players to stage a match which turned into a feast of running rugby.  It was great to be back.

As a result of the pre-match negotiations, Aldeburgh’s eleven players faced twelve from Harwich.  Scrums were to be uncontested.  They had a few big lads.  The pitch was hard.  There would be a lot of running to do in which the one man advantage could be significant.

The first ten minutes bore out the initial concerns.  Harwich ran the ball well.  Aldeburgh gave away a series of penalties, mainly for high tackles, and could not get out of their own 22, despite a raking clearance kick by fly half Ed Robson.  The pressure eventually told with Harwich getting a try under the posts which was converted.

From the restart, the flow of the match changed.  Aldeburgh were awarded their first penalty around half way.  They ran the ball to the left wing then brought it back across the pitch to scrum half, Fred Precious, who jinked through to go over for the first try.

Fred made another tremendous run as Aldeburgh began to take the initiative.  It remained well-balanced until 25 minutes in when from a scrum Aldeburgh again moved the ball out to the wing then back inside, this time to Ed Robson who touched down before converting his own try from the touchline.  A few minutes later, Ed scored again.  This time it was from clean line out ball, good movement in the backs and a first phase try.  Ed made sure to get round under the posts to give himself an easy conversion. 

By the half hour mark, with Aldeburgh leading 19-7, it became clear that, while Harwich had a numerical advantage, they were not as fit or as mobile.  The nine core players in the Aldeburgh team were those who regularly attended training and it showed.  Coach, Paddy Allen, has been drumming into them for years the importance of communication.  We could hear from the touchline that it was working.  Here was a group of players who in attack were alive to the opportunities and were sharing them and in defence were alert to the threats and combining well to snuff them out.

The pattern was set.  Aldeburgh’s running created opportunities.  Their tackling stopped Harwich from creating anything.  Ed Robson was influential throughout, as always.  He scored the next try, nearly went over again but was tackled just short of the line.  From the ensuing ruck, the ball went right and Fred Precious side-stepped his way over for his second. 

In the last move before half-time, a poor clearance kick landed directly in the midriff of Tom Harrison who reacted first by running hard before the Harwich players could retreat from their offside positions.  One managed to try to tackle Tom but bounced off him before he went over in the corner.  Having played a couple of times last season, we are hoping that he will become a regular on the wing or in the centre.

With a 38-7 half time lead, Aldeburgh had the confidence to run hard at Harwich throughout the second half.  The forwards joined in with powerful runs by Jon Hunt, Toby Mann and captain Freddie Burgess, happily restored to the team after missing most of last season with an Achilles injury.  The next try came from a huge dummy from Sam Mann which opened a gap for him to stroll through and touch down under the posts. 

Nothing was going right for Harwich.  Even their line out was failing to function.  A throw went right over the top.  Fred Precious was first to react, caught the ball, passed to Tom Harrison who ran through the Harwich defence to score.

Fifty minutes after their first try, Harwich managed another.  A super little pass put them through, a long kick and hack on took them over the line.  The conversion bounced back off the cross bar.

There were groans from Aldeburgh players and supporters alike when Freddie Burgess kicked from hand (again).  But when he chased it, hacked on and was racing for the line, the groans turned to cheers.  Sadly, he ended up on top of the last opponent rather than on the ball, giving away a penalty.  He emerged still smiling as was everybody on the touchline.

A newly recruited winger produced a delightful swerve to go past his man to score the next try.  Finally, Fred Precious got another when Ed ran a dummy line to the blind side of a scrum to enable Fred to go open and score. 

Credit to Harwich that they got the final try when their big No 19 finally used his weight to bludgeon his way over the line.

Ten tries and seven conversions gave Aldeburgh a convincing win in the first match of the season.  Having already lost five points because Colchester were unwilling to rearrange a fixture on the first Saturday of the season, this bonus point win takes Aldeburgh back to mid-table with zero points.  A great start to the playing season.