Ely 53 v Warriors 3 1/12/18

2nd December 2018 Simon Ballard — No Comments

An injury depleted Woodbridge held energetic Ely Tigers at bay by trading kicks for the first fifteen minutes, Tiger Jake Alsop putting in some great carries and Warrior Owen Scott worked hard at the breakdown. Predatory Ely full back; Matt McCarthy finished a 5m siege to score. Woodbridge failed to take advantage of Ely penalties and it was No8 Jacob Muncey that pounced next. Woodbridge Angus Clogg took their only 3 points before Muncey scored on half time to make it 15-3.

The second half saw a tiring Woodbridge defending against an ever livelier Ely who looked a co-ordinated and well coached unit running in six further tries through hooker Nathan Brookes and backs Paul Dewey (two), Luke Turner, James Buckland and McCarthy scoring again. Woodbridge defended hard but with many regular players missing and others playing out of position it was an achievement to restrict the tries to six.

Amazons 20 Swallows 29 25/11/18

29th November 2018 Simon Ballard — No Comments

Amazons 20 Swallows 29 – it’s been a wild three weeks for the Amazons. If having a huge 5 week break between games has been a challenge, then 3 on the bounce has proved even more challenging.
Two weeks ago a last minute try, and conversion by Christina Murgatroyd earned the Amazons a thrilling victory at Stanford le Hope by the score of 24-22. Then last week at Lakenham, after a superb hat trick of tries from Carmel Roisin Leak, another last gasp Murgatroyd try wasn’t enough to come out on top of a 24-27 reverse – and this week, hosting their local rivals from just up the A12 at Southwold, another nail biter ended up in a close 29-20 defeat.
In clear, but chilly conditions at Hatchley Barn, the Amazons kept up this seasons tradition of starting slowly, allowing their opponents an easy entry into the match. Jaye Ash, the most dangerous centre for the visitors opened the scoring after just 7 minutes after some good interplay with fullback Chantelle Gallagher.
The Amazons responded well however, and Beth Clapson returned a box kick with interest, setting up Kat Mead who ran through defenders for the equalising score.
The visitors were soon back in front when Jasmin Fisher took advantage of some poor tackling to ghost in under the posts but her score, and the 5-10 scoreline seemed to spur the hosts on. For the final ten minutes of the half, it was all Woodbridge. Pressure on the Swallows line was maintained, then cleared, reapplied, and cleared repeatedly until the halftime whistle.
In the second half the visitors engaged another gear, scoring three tries in quick succession. A short yardage trundle from Angela Wadham, before two tries by Gallagher, the first a long range burst straight after the restart, the second being handily placed inside winger Alex McKay, led to an unassailable 5-29 lead.
But just like the previous week at Lakenham, the Amazons refused to quit and they attempted another comeback. Roisin Leak, the Amazons leading scorer this season, maintained her scoring prowess to reduce the arrears, and her centre partner Anna Dewberry went over soon after with a direct line from the visitors 22. The Amazons kept their foot down and were unlucky when prop forward Toni Bell was held up over the try line. Time was running out, but when Charlotte Granger charged a clearance kick down, there was time for Roisin Leak to score in the corner bringing the scoreline back to 20-29. There was only time for the failed conversion attempt however, and another narrow defeat was underlined at the final whistle.
Another enthralling match then, which can only help the less experienced of this new look Woodbridge squad get better, means the future is bright for womens rugby in this part of Suffolk.

WRUFC sees the light

19th November 2018 Simon Ballard — 2 Comments

We used our new floodlights for the first time on Saturday in the League clash against Wymondham RFC.

The new lamps, from the Abacus Lighting Ltd Challenger Range, provide excellent forward throw of light with low light pollution. The lights were financed with the help of generous contributions from East Suffolk Council (Suffolk Coastal District Council) Play Space Fund, the Rugby Football Foundation’s Goundmatch Grant and three of our local SCDC Councillors’ Community Budgets.

The lights were installed and commissioned by local firm, Bayfield Electrical Contracting, just in time as the evenings draw in and weather-affected fixtures have to be accommodated. They will also enable evening fixtures that are a valuable source of Club income.

The lights were illuminated by our own Jan Ballard and Bob Double who braved the men’s changing room to, wait for it,,,,, turn them on ????

Chairman Rob Simpson commented “I am constantly and pleasantly surprised by the willingness of local donors to support our efforts to provide rugby to the Woodbridge area. These floodlights will not only extend the time that we can play rugby but also provide much improved facilities for use by our local community.”

Warriors 22 v Wymondham 36

19th November 2018 Simon Ballard — No Comments

A tough contest for the Warriors against 2nd placed Wymondham RFC who dominated the set pieces and first half scoreboard despite a cheeky 5 min try from Ryan Ramplin. We came back in the second half with Ryan scoring again followed by two late-game tries from capt Tom Stokes. However it was a tough call against some relentless running and forward work from Wymondham who’s star fly-half Charley Delaney scored 21 points.

5 mins try Woodbridge Ryan Ramplin unconverted by Angus Clogg
15 mins try Wymondham RFC David Blake converted by Charley Delaney
25 mins penalty Wymondham by Charley Delaney
38 mins try Wymondham Josh Cousens converted by Charley Delaney
SECOND HALF
12 mins try Wymondham Charley Delaney converted by Charley Delaney
20 mins try Woodbridge Ryan Ramplin unconverted by Angus Clogg
24 mins Try Wymondham Charley Delaney converted by Charley Delaney
30 mins try Wymondham Ethan Holmwood unconverted by Charley Delaney
33 mins try Woodbridge Tom Stokes converted by Angus Clogg
40 mins try Woodbridge Tom Stokes unconverted by Angus Clogg

U10s win at Welford Rd

6th November 2018 Simon Ballard — No Comments

Coach Steve Wilding writes “Woodbridge U10s played last Saturday 3/11/18 in the Prima Cup at Welford Road. Two very hard games against Wellingborough and Oundle, big big clubs!

We won our first games 5-0 and drew the second games 3-3, with Oundle scoring in the last few seconds. It is another success story not just for the 12 boys that played, but the whole squad. I attach a picture. Many thanks to Woodbridge School as they also sponsored us with water bottles, but also sponsor the whole minis section. I am hoping that we may be invited back again into the final of finals in March…..watch this space”.

Thurston 17 v Warriors 19 3/11/18

4th November 2018 Simon Ballard — No Comments

Thurston 17 v Warriors 19: A match where doggedly persistent attacks were met by solid defences. Kicks flew back and forth in the gusty sunshine as the tackle count spun upward with both sides defending hard. Woodbridge dominated territory in the first half but the home defence was outstanding conceding only one try when Jeff Buchanan broke the tension and scored on 38 minutes.

The second half saw Thurston bash their way back when centre, Ed Ballam was finally rewarded for his hard work with two tries followed by another from fly-half Jamie Drury. For the second week running Woodbridge had to dig deep in the dying moments and this time it was wing Ryan Ramplin who scored wide before Jono Cooke rounded off a sustained attack, peppered with penalties, to win the tight contest with a try in the last play of the match.

Thurston Rangers 17 v Woodbridge Warriors 19

U13, U15 and U18 Girls EC Festival – 28/10/18

29th October 2018 Simon Ballard — No Comments

The East Suffolk Lynx (ESL) Girls hosted the first EC Girls Festival. ESL who are a merger of Woodbridge and Ipswich Girls programmes entered teams in all three age groups. This was the U13s first ever festival together after only a couple of months together. They did tremendously well and saw them lose two close games against Cambridge and Crusaders. They did however pick up excellent wins against Diss and North Walsham/West Norfolk. The girls did really well and the girls programme is looking healthy for the future! The U15s merged with Sudbury as we will be playing together in the National Cup so this was good practice. They played some fantastic rugby and picked up good wins in their 2 group games against Mistley/Harwich and Norwich. They played Cambridge in the final and won 5-0. They now play their first National Cup game next weekend against Rochford. The U18s faced a competitive day of rugby against Crusaders, Diss and Sudbury.

The first game against Crusaders saw a first half of wonder tries, offloading and skilful running from ESL to take a 15-0 lead. Crusaders rallied in the second half to pull it back to 15-14 but some late tries saw ESL win 27-14. The second game saw them play Diss in probably the best game of the day. Diss took a 7-0 lead in the first half. The start of the second half saw Diss extend that lead 14-0. This kicked ESL into life and a quick try from the restart brought it back to 14-5. With 3 minutes left ESL played some great offloads and spread it wide to dot down and make it 14-10. With final play from the KO, ESL retained the ball and played they phases and then a lovely offload saw ESL break the line and score with the final play to win 15-14.

Their final game saw them a bit fatigued and taking on Sudbury, who are the region’s strongest U18 team, this being their 3rd year together. Things started badly with ESL not at the races and 10-0 down early. ESL refocused and scored a lovely try to make it 10-5. This was the first try Sudbury conceded all day. The end of the first half and start of the second half saw ESL turn off and concede five quick tries. ESL then refocused again and the last 5 minutes saw them on top and pushing for another try which they duly got. The final score of 37-10 was a decent result and sets the standard for the rest of the season. This also meant that ESL finished 2nd which was a great result. All three teams did really well with some enjoyable rugby, great teamwork and a couple of top quality tries.

Warriors 30 v Wisbech 14 27/10/18

29th October 2018 Simon Ballard — No Comments

Hatchley Barn – 15 points from Angus Clogg and a dominant all-round display earned Woodbridge Warriors a third successive victory, 30-14, over visiting Wisbech in the London 3 Eastern Counties Division match up on Saturday October 28^th, 2018.

Having withstood early pressure, Woodbridge gradually grew in confidence and went ahead through a pair of Clogg penalties and a James Porter Try, making sure the Warriors first half supremacy counted, going into the break 11-0 up.

A driving maul inspired by Jono Cooke allowed Tony Moseley to increase the lead to 16-0 within three minutes of the restart and Clogg atoned for two missed conversions by chasing down a reverse kick from Adam Plummer, beating the Wisbech defense to the ball and scoring, adding a conversion, to make it 23-0.

The large crowd were momentarily silenced when almost from nowhere Maxx Hudson put Wisbech on the board with a Try, which Andy Claydon converted, but any chance of a late comeback was soon extinguished by a Thomas Ives Try and another Clogg conversion, earning Woodbridge its first bonus points of the season and making it 30-7.

Solomon Prestige scored in the closing moments for Wisbech, Claydon got his second conversion, but Woodbridge ran out comfortable winners.

Woodbridge Warriors 30 v Wisbech RUFC 14

Wymondham Colts 8 v Woodbridge Colts 19 Sun 21/10/18

25th October 2018 Simon Ballard — No Comments

National Cup – 1^st Round

A hard fought, but well deserved victory in front of the brand new (and very impressive) Wymondham RFC clubhouse. No more need to choose the deep end or the shallow end at kick-off!!

A big thank you to our hosts and we wish them well for the rest of the season

It’s a home tie next against Ealing Trailfinders in round 2 on Sunday 18^th November

Thetford RUFC 17 v Warriors 18

21st October 2018 Simon Ballard — No Comments

A sunny, still day, with half the lush Thetford pitch in sun and half in shadow, provided the perfect conditions to kick for territory. Both scrum halves; Thetford’s Mark Laws and Angus Clogg for the visitors used the boot joined by fly halves Harry Stenton and JP Hart. Woodbridge enjoyed the best of the line-out but Thetford controlled the scrum using big 5 Jasper Spencer and 8 Luke Bailey as battering rams to threaten tight defence as the Warriors gained most from penalties, Jamie Smith and Ryan Ramplin were denied by a forward pass. Woodbridge got the better of the kicks and a deep lineout saw Hart offload to centre Thomas Ives who fended off to score.

Thetford clearly had the pokiest half-time chat as they stormed back through Spencer and penalties to get close enough for Laws to stretch over and level the score. Nervous mid-pitch play ensued, both sets of forwards battling to secure kickable ball which resulted in Clogg adding two penalties and Stenton adding one to make it 10-13. In an exciting, noisy and tense final ten minutes Thetford battled to snatch seven points through a well-worked try from Laws converted by Stenton. Woodbridge held firm however and worked the ball wide from confident line-out for wing Reece Monk to grab a wide score and steal the win by a point.