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Suffolk Sports Awards Nominate Now

16th May 2016 Simon Ballard — No Comments

Suffolk Sport has launched the Suffolk Sports Awards 2016. This prestigious event awards and celebrates sporting excellence throughout Suffolk. Reward the sporting heroes in your club or sport and those leading sport and physical activity projects in your area by giving them recognition and thanks they deserve.
The Suffolk Sports Awards event is taking place on 18th November 2016 at Trinity Park, Ipswich and will be celebrating Suffolk Sport’s 20th year growing physical activity in Suffolk.

Sponsorship categories are here: Sponsors_Categories____Criteria_2016(1)

You can vote here: http://suffolksport.com/survey/survey.asp?survey=20010043 

Junior Awards 2016

9th May 2016 Simon Ballard — No Comments
Junior Awards 2016

Junior Section Awards reflected yet another safe, enjoyable and rewarding season of great rugby played by our fine young young men and women. Awards were presented and thanks given for hard-working Coaches and ever-supportive parents. Many thanks to out-going Junior Chairman Graham Kill who passes the reins to Alex Brigginshaw. Have a good summer break everyone.

A full Facebook Gallery is here

 

U15s are Ipswich 7’s Winners

4th May 2016 Simon Ballard — No Comments

Report from Tim Owens…..Another Cup to add to Woodbridge Under 15’s Trophy Cabinet!

Elliot Man of the Tournament

Elliot Man of the Tournament

The tournament started with Braintree, who very much shocked us by scoring a brilliant powerhouse of a try straight through the middle of our centres and scoring under the posts. But that was the last they had of the ball and we romped home with 5 tries scored by Marcus, Josh, Barnaby, Elliott and Jake.

Hadleigh next and as last year’s winners they were going to be a much tougher opponent and they scored the opening and closing tries, however in between we scored 5 tries from Marcus, Elliott, Travis, Marcus again, and Tom Aston.

Ipswich followed and another win, with 6 tries to 1 scored by Marcus, Josh, Charlie, Alex, Tom Aston and Alex again.

Last pool match was Eley and we won 7 tries to 1, scores by Elliott, Tom Aston, Barnaby, Marcus, Barnaby, Charlie and Will.

Semi-final time and Sudbury, big bunch of boys who played with great spirit but played a 15 a side game which as soon as we got the ball we exploited width and scored 5 tries to their 2, by Marcus, Josh, Marcus, Travis and Barnaby.

Marcus & Trophy

Marcus & Trophy

Final v Bury St Edmunds – a really tight score 7-5 to us, but we ruled the pitch for ¾ of the game, and ruined several chances of another couple of tries by not doing what we had done so well in the previous games and use the width, overlap and mismatches, that said we never really looked like losing so the score was correct on possession and territory.

Our team member voted Woodbridge “man of the tournament” goes to Sean for his amazing fitness as a forward, stealing ball and making tackles across the park, but also for his great supporting runs, leading to him scoring under the posts in the final. Well done Sean!

Lastly, for the second year running the Ipswich Rio Sevens tournament referees awarded a Woodbridge player to be their U15’s Tournament Man of the Match – which this year went to Elliott.

Wymondham 36 v Warriors 12 – 23/04/16

26th April 2016 Simon Ballard — No Comments

Warriors' scrum lets them down in defeat in Norfolk EADT 26_4_16 resizedWymondham started shakily, conceding a few penalties early on but found their feet quickly with a match-defining shove at the scrum and quick ball out from No 8 Armes, a strong run from Andy Mackay to scrum half Auden Airdrie who scored. Moments later Wymondham repeated the move but full back Pape was stopped by JP Hart. The following scrum saw more pressure on the visitors, No 8 Jono Cooke struggling to keep the ball at the back and, despite holding a line out, winning a penalty and a good clearance from Hart possession passed the home team and hooker C Airdrie bought play back to the Woodbridge 5m line where a poor scrum saw scrum half Airdrie pick up an easy ball and score again.

Wymondham continued to give away penalties and Woodbridge missed a try at goal as play stayed central for a while the home team putting in a couple of good mauls and exploiting their opponents patchy line out. Woodbridge were also frequently pushed off their ball at the scrum and fly half Duffin and centre Tom Midgley barrelled down the middle of the pitch pressurising Adam Plummer and Hart even when they did get clean ball. Midgley also kept the kicking pressure on full back Christian Hoolihan and wing Luke Jacques resulting in play staying in the visitors 22 from which a simple move from the back of the scrum saw Andy Mackay score. Woodbridge gained some attacking territory from Hart’s kicking and Wymondham being reduced to 14 men but failed to score and Mackay’s counter kicks pushed the Warriors back into their 22 before dominating a scrum against the head from which Mackay scored his second.

Woodbridge Captain Tom Stokes started the second half with a strong run, Jono Cooke, Tim Johnson and Olly Gray also joining the attack but the home defence was strong, stripping Amit Sinha and kicking over. Another couple of mauls forced some excellent counter shoves from Tony Gibson and the Warrior front row but eventually the Wymondham scrum gained 15 metres and Andy Mackay scored his hat trick. Hart continued the aerial bombardment forcing the hosts back but the follow up chase wasn’t always great and play stayed central until a period of Wymondham penalties and some good runs from wingers Jack Johnson and Luke Jacques lifted the visitors and centre Sam Hallows opened the scoring for Woodbridge. Rejuvenated by this Johnson grubbed through and the Warriors kept the pressure on, holding a couple of set pieces and keeping the ball moving quickly for Sam Hallows to score his second.

Within moments Wymondham Tom Midgley finished a well-worked move from the restart to re-emphasise the home team advantage on the final whistle.

 

U15s – Colchester Festival Plate Winners

18th April 2016 Simon Ballard — No Comments

Report from Tim Owens
“Another great day for Woodbridge Under 15’s. With just 19 players, one dropping out at the last minute due to partying too hard the night before! We started our campaign against a large Holt team who took it to us in the forwards, but as soon as we shipped it wide we found space and slick handling led to a great individual run by Guy. Although of note he had support left and right if required. Converted by Elliott. And in the second half a storming run down the wing and a cut back led to another try this time by James Owens.

12 nil to Woodbridge.

Next was North Walsham who came hard out of the starting blocks and took control of the game leading 12 nil at half time. With some gentle words of encouragement by management, Woodbridge upped their aggression and work rate and completely took North Walsham apart both in the tight and out wide, with a scorching try by Marcus under the posts, converted by Elliott and another forwards try from James Owens. If we had had another 30 seconds this was our game, but time was against us and a draw was secured.

Westcliff was a score-less game, but WOW wasn’t it exciting, two evenly matched teams flowing back and forth over the centre line, rarely entering the opposition 22, each team probing in attack, and defending magnificently. A draw was a fair ending to a great game. To be continued I think next season.

Last pool game was against Southend, who really are a brilliant outfit with top quality academy players in every position. 5 tries to nil to them.

So after all the Pool games were played and points tallied, Southend were in top spot, Westcliff 2nd, North Walsham 3rd, Colchester 4th and Woodbridge 5th.

Plate Semi Final – Romford was our opponent and as usual and is typical of North London teams, big and physical in the break downs, Man of this Match was Joe Lipman who played both out of position on the flank doing a very creditable job and then swapped to winger to score our winning try, converted by Elliott.

Plate Final – Brentwood another large very physical pack with direct runners in the backs, we took two tries against them in the first half, Alex and Elliott, converted both times by Elliott. But the second half the beast was awakened and Brentwood launched attack after attack leading to a great try under the posts and converted too. But time was against them and with a renewed surge from Woodbridge we reclaimed the ball and kept hold of it until the final whistle.

A long but rewarding day out, only one loss all day and that was against Southend!. Man of the tournament, a close thing, the backs were magnificent in their handling, but I can’t forgive the missed 4 on 1 opportunity. So it goes to a forward, who lead by example and showed barely controlled aggression in the tight and loose play, and played in just about every position in the pack – Well Done Brendan.”

Warriors 22 v Crusaders 18

17th April 2016 Simon Ballard — No Comments

A large crowd, swollen by a coachload from Crusaders, gathered in anticipation of this annual clash – the Warriors keen to avenge the 12-32 away loss in December. The start couldn’t have been any better – hooker Dan Bond retaining kick-off ball and then acting as right winger to grub kick through to Sam Jackson who scored wide within a minute. Crusaders chased their restart to win a penalty just outside the home 22 and Theo Elliott slotted the three points. Crusaders continued to exploit the long kick to get in behind the home defence, winger Luke Jacques coming under particular pressure, JP Hart returned the favour but play remained up the Woodbridge end, wing Jamie Dack leading a charge and exploiting weak set pieces from the Warriors. Crusaders made good use of the maul first to win a penalty and then their strong pack shoved prop Henry Joy over for a try. A nervous Woodbridge restarted poorly losing a scrum and allowing Elliott to break, Rog Craigs to offload to full back Ryan Harris who broke a tackle from his opposite number Jamie Smith to score. Immediately Jacob Bodkin took the opportunity for three points from a restart penalty and maintained pressure from more penalties, Hart, Cooke and Bodkin all having threatening runs but the visitors defended well and continued to dominate in the set piece, they also mauled well, favouring the blind side but giving away too many penalties. Nevertheless play stayed uncomfortably deep in the Warriors 22 for Tony Gibson, Tim Johnson and Rob Attwater all having to counter some low drives from the Cru’s pack before the break.

Woodbridge restarted well, holding their line-out and challenging the Crusader’s 5m line but tough tackling from James Durrant, Vince Cook and Rob Dye meant they had to settle for a penalty attempt which they missed. Play stayed in the visitor’s half as their scrum domination was negated by penalties and forward passes. Having failed to gain any points from a sustained attack the Warriors were then forced back into defence as George King and Jack Boorman took cleanly from a line-out and lead a series of pick and drives, returned clearance kicks and mauls. Home supporters were then pleasantly stunned as a 40m run from Hart and Bodkin made the next try look easy to break the impasse. Bodkin converted his own score and the kicking tennis continued between Hart and Harris until a mark was called and, peculiarly, Cru’s chose to run it Will Bennet stole from the ruck, Olly Gray offloaded to Hart – on quickly to Jackson who ran in the try which Bodkin converted. Crusaders had another penalty attempt at goal only to kick wide and as the clock wound down play reflected the visitor’s desperation – another poor lineout and scrum from Woodbridge in the danger zone saw Elliott score from a quickly-taken penalty leaving 5 minutes and 4 points in it. Crusaders stayed camped on the Woodbridge 5m line forcing some epic defence from Gibson and his pack as the noisy crowd made itself heard but it was the defence that held, the touchline cruelly denying a last minute effort from Rob Dye. In the end 3 tries and a penalty each with Bodkin’s conversions sealing the Woodbridge win.

Woodbridge Warriors 22 v Crusaders 18

 

Warriors win Suffolk Cup 2016

11th April 2016 Simon Ballard — No Comments

While not exactly David and Goliath – Stowmarket, lying 8th in London 3 North East and Cup holders, were the bookmaker’s favourites against Woodbridge lying 4th in EC1. The first scrum showed the home team’s strength, giant lock Graham Wilson having an effect, and an early indication of their game plan to kick for territory. The Warriors weren’t having any of it however and fly half JP Hart cleared from the lineout up to the Stow 5m line winning a scrum from the lineout and forcing the Cup Holders to run from deep only to be penalised on halfway from which Warrior full back Jacob Bodkin put in a strong run and winger Ady Sanday stunned the home crowd by scoring wide. This was not anticipated.

A nervous Stowmarket fluffed the restart and, despite coming second in the scrum Woodbridge continued to keep possession and harry the home team their back row; Nick Woodley, James Gilbert and Olly Gray scrabbling and charging to keep the ball. Stow’s tactic of kicking over the defence only reloaded Bodkin for renewed attack but eventually the hardworking full back Dan Garrard rallied an attack, slipping through several tackles and winning one of several penalties one of which he kicked for 3 points. Stowmarket supporters were then lifted after a scrum in midfield saw some slick passing, recovery at the breakdown and Dan Garrard retrieve his own chip kick and score to put Stowmarket up 8 – 5 only to miss another crack at a penalty shortly after. The dropout found Stow No 8 Max Crowe who put in a thundering run centrally as the hosts grew in confidence looking dangerous in the closing moments of the half but frustrated by too many penalties one of which was missed by Sanday.

Woodbridge took the kick off well, the second row and Hart charging effectively and getting play into Stowmarket’s danger area where good work from Tim Johnson and the pack forced another clearance kick from Garrard. Woodbridge kept the pressure with Adam Plummer distributing well and the flankers tackling hard to keep the Stow forwards at bay. Play moved to halfway when substitute wing Sam Jackson broke 30 metres for Woodley to recycle out wide to winger Sanday who scored – to the vocal delight of the coach loads from Woodbridge. Stowmarket continued to look dangerous; runs from Stu Hill and Crowe forcing some crunching tackles from sub Rob Attwater and Captain Tom Stokes while the ever-present Garrard poked and prodded the defence with a variety of kicks including an attempted penalty from the 10m line. The Warriors improved at the set piece and won free kicks at the scrum while also holding possession in the line out where quick ball across field saw Rob Attwater score and Sanday convert as Woodbridge opened a two try gap and the home crowd faced a shock. The last ten minutes saw redoubled efforts from Stow frustrated by penalties and chip kicks going dead. Woodbridge maintained an underdog spring in their step and put together their signature ruck, recycle, run combination which saw Bodkin break several tackles to score wide on the right and, with the help of five minutes more stoic defence, seal the shock win over the Stowmarket Goliath and take the Suffolk Chadacre Cup home to Woodbridge.

Newmarket 41 v Warriors 15 2/4/16

5th April 2016 Simon Ballard — No Comments

UntitledThe odds favoured fourth-placed Woodbridge as they travelled to relegation contender Newmarket but the hosts clearly had other ideas. Scrum half Max Bell in boisterous form forced a scrum from which quick hands saw Danny Brooks offload and Simon Guenigault score wide on the left. Minutes later and Newmarket were back in the Warrior 22, fly half Tom Clifton kicking for an attacking line-out and scrum before Woodbridge wing Sam Jackson was penalised and No 8 Ali Walker scored the second in five minutes. Clearly shaken, Woodbridge rallied and JP Hart found some territory in the Newmarket 22 where the hosts gave away a number of penalties that allowed No 8 Jono Cooke to put in a couple of drives before quick hands shifted the ball for Jackson to knock on. Newmarket gave away another penalty at the ruck which allowed Sam Hallows to pull back three points and the penalties continued during an attack which earned a yellow card. Woodbridge didn’t have their normal confidence and failed to make ground from mounting Newmarket penalties, dropped the high ball and passed to touch when they did have possession. Despite this the man advantage eventually showed as scrum half Adam Plummer broke free in mid field for a penetrating run before JP Hart took over to run 40m and level the score. A poor restart saw the Warriors immediately under renewed pressure, Newmarket flanker Sam Rodman fought hard and a clever chip through from Walker saw winger Guenigault beat the defence to touch down and take the lead 15-10 at the break.

Newmarket scored quickly in the second half, Adam Plummer getting sacked at the back of the scrum and Rodham finishing off quick ball to get the try. The restart saw the home forwards get in on the act, storming up to the 5m line and pushing over, Ali Walker claiming the score to increase the challenge for a stunned Woodbridge. The visitors forwards reacted and exploited continuing Newmarket penalties and two sin bins to pick and drive in the danger zone, Dan Bond and his pack working hard to draw in the defence before the ball was spun out to Jackson to put down and get some return for his forward’s efforts. Newmarket weren’t to be stopped however and, with thirteen men, used replacements to energize its defence and repel a couple of runs from Cooke and Nick Woodley, Clifton kicking well to hold territory. One such attacking lineout saw a maul get close to the line before Walker offloaded to lock Matthew Kent to score and it was left to scrum half Max Bell to run 40m and seal a convincing win for the home side on the final whistle.

Woodbridge RFC U15s Eastern Counties Runners Up

22nd March 2016 Simon Ballard — No Comments

Woodbridge U15s finished our first Eastern Counties finals as proud runners up. Playing our first half hour match against our hosts and defending champions Wymondham, we finished 7:0 down. Our second game was an exhibition of running and handling rugby, with five tries from our backs sealing a convincing 25:5 win over Peterborough

In the decisive first game, Woodbridge had the better of the first half, which ended with no score after we dropped the ball over their try line. Our big forwards required Wymondham to defend the fringes superbly. While our backs tackled fearlessly out wide, when clustering around the breakdown had gifted Wymondham with overlaps.

Wymondham finally broke the deadlock thanks to an impressive counterattacking try from their two strongest players, a very agile fly-half and a massive but mobile number 8. Woodbridge responded with great character, working their way up the pitch with determination and gritty ball-retention. Twice the footwork and handling of our backs broke the Wymondham line, only to be thwarted by a committed cover-tackle and a ball dropped under pressure. So in the end it wasn’t to be and Wymondham ran out worthy winners and Eastern Counties champions for the third successive year.

The generosity with which they congratulated our players was a reflection of the quality of the game and a recognition that this was their toughest challenge to date. While the considerable achievements of our U15 players is a measure of their team spirit, with no fewer than 27 of them playing in this year’s cup run. Big hearts that have put them firmly on the regional rugby map!