Aldeburgh v Woodbridge 2s
26th October Away
Result: Woodbridge 53 Aldeburgh 24
The rain poured down. Aldeburgh fielded 12 players so a 12 a side match on Woodbridge’s main pitch left acres of space. In addition to a strong pack, Woodbridge had a couple of fast, elusive backs who carved through. The points racked up. The ball got harder to hold as the rain continued. And yet, despite all that, the final move of the match resulted in Aldeburgh scoring the try that gained them a bonus point. Tremendous spirit.
There was an ominous start when Woodbridge scored a couple of early tries, one through the backs covering most of the length of the pitch, the other through powerful running by the forwards. But Aldeburgh bounced back, taking a quick penalty, moving it through the backs to Ben Atherton who ran strongly to score in the corner.
The Woodbridge fly half, who had a huge influence on the game, sliced through for their next try but Aldeburgh came straight back with strong forward running, a blind side move and good continuity to bring the score back to 19-12 after 20 minutes with another try by Atherton. When Aldeburgh lost their line out from the kick off, a Woodbridge lock barged through to score.
It was a tribute to Aldeburgh’s persistent defence that the only other score in the half was an unstoppable try created by the Woodbridge fly half and scored by their dangerous winger. Half time score: 29-12
The first period of the second half was Aldeburgh’s strongest. Despite losing a man injured, Aldeburgh battled to stay in the match, winning a crucial scrum penalty on their own line. The forwards kept the ball tight, moving the ball down the pitch with a series of short runs until, from a scrum in the Woodbridge 22, stand in scrum half, Rupert Clogg, wormed his way through and over for a converted try.
At 29-19, Aldeburgh looked to be in contention, but Woodbridge’s speed and power proved too much as they ran in four more tries. Great credit to the Aldeburgh spirit that they continued to press, took a quick penalty and drove over for James Ledger to score the bonus point try.