Sat 28 Sep 2024
28th MERSEA ISLAND RUFC v IPSWICH YM RUFC First XV Match Report
September 2024
A bright and sunny afternoon under a typical big sky saw the YM on the road for the second week in succession as visitors to Mersea Island RUFC and keen to build on the solid performance and win away at Woodbridge the previous week.
Both packs looked up for a physical encounter and it was clear that powerful runs off the set piece by both respective back rows would require some solid tackling and effective breakdown work throughout the 80 minutes.
But it was the YM who quickly gained the upper hand by drawing infringements from Mersea as they progressed into the opposition twenty-two. A quick tap and go penalty saw Jake Goodwin cross the try line under the posts. Fly-half Adam O’Leary kicking the conversion for the YM to take a 7-nil lead.
The home side responded immediately with their own flanker, Ed Johnston, making powerful and repeated surges into the YM half requiring some committed covering tackles to halt his progress. The YM Captain, Ben Hockley, led by example putting in a huge tackle on his own try line to keep Mersea from scoring and securing a penalty in the process. Mersea were undiminished and came back again strongly running the same back row moves into the YM half with great defence from YM’s Ed Parkin, Matt Houlden and Toby Ruffles. But quick ball from a Mersea scrum saw them score in the corner and an excellent conversion saw the scores levelled at 7-7 after 25 minutes.
In the remaining 15 minutes of the first half, the YM ran in five successive tries as the backs started to get their hands on the ball either as a result of the sustained pressure applied by the pack or from great defensive line speed that pressurised the opposition into spilling the ball and YM wining turnovers almost at will.
Joe Pearse scored a try after a decisive break from midfield by George Hendry ably supported by Goodwin with O’Leary securing the conversion. Mersea 7 v YM 14.
A great charge-down from an attempted 5 metre clearance kick by Mersea provided a deserved welcome bounce and gather by Hendry for another try under the posts which O’Leary duly converted. Mersea 7 v YM 21.
Hendry intercepted a loose Mersea ball in midfield and quickly turned defence into attack with a neat chip into the corner which Connor McLaughlan gathered to score in the corner. The difficult conversion chance was missed. Mersea 7 v YM 26.
Almost from the restart YM moved the ball though the hands allowing Parkin to surge forward at pace and broke the tired Mersea tackle to continue his run and cross the try line with a minute to go until half-time. The try was not converted. Mersea 7 v YM 31.
But the YM had not finished their first half demolition and their pressure resulted in Mersea spilling the ball deep in their twenty two with Goodwin gathering the loose ball and running in his second try which was unconverted. The half-time score was Mersea 7 v YM 36.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the YM’s performance the previous week at Woodbridge where they struggled, unsurprisingly, to sustain the dominance that they had exerted in the first half.
At least four missed tackles by YM allowed Mersea’s full back, Isaac Sestek, to score an early try which was converted. Mersea 14 v YM 36.
Hockley’s momentum chasing a kick saw him fail at the fence as he took a tumble out of view over the pitch side perimeter!
YM started to lose their intensity and this was sensed by Mersea who upped their own efforts and a tangible shift in momentum could be sensed. The home side running in another converted try to narrow the score differential. Mersea 21 v YM 36.
But a searing break by Houlden from deep in his own half took the YM game back to Mersea and resulted in an attacking YM scrum 10m from the Mersea try line. The scrum set piece had been reasonably well matched all afternoon but the YM pack simply wrecked the Mersea scrum on this occasion and a scrum penalty was the result. Electing to scrum again, this time 5 metres from the try line, the YM pack dominance quickly turned the scrum into an advancing maul which the referee viewed as being cynically collapsed by Mersea with a YM penalty try being the result. Mersea 21 v YM 43.
Needing a converted try for a losing bonus point Mersea gave their all in the closing minutes against a clearly tiring YM. They scored the converted try needed for that bonus point and ran in a final converted try in the final seconds of the game to leave the final score Mersea 35 v Ipswich YM 43.
WE ARE THE Y!
