Ipswich v Holt 05.01.14

Words by Holt's top pitchside reporter: Geoff Webster.
Pictures by Sheringham's top snapper: Amelia Ghanbouri.

Scenic.

Last Sunday was a lovely sunny day: cold, crisp, terrific conditions for the first match back after the Christmas break. Parents and boys have a different idea as to what constitutes a beautiful day - my eulogising on the sun, sky and generally beauty of the world in the car on the way to Ipswich was met by stony silence from the the three lads in the back. In fact I do not think any of them uttered a single word all the way down the A140, that masterpiece of engineering and logistical planning.

Ipswich find the golden egg.

Never mind, I reasoned, usual Holt Rugby early morning phobia. Training before the game was also distinctly lacklustre. Again, quite usual. We fielded a full team and it is fair to say expectations on the touch line were high after our dismantling of Ipswich at Holt in early December.

Looking to spring out of the blocks. Not.

We kicked off with aplomb. The first few minutes were pretty even, neither side gaining the upper hand. Then Ipswich made a line break and Simmo made a fantastic cover tackle in the corner to prevent the score. Good work undone by a charged down kick from the resultant line out. 7-0 Ipswich. Ipswich then scored from the restart - Holt defence was nowhere.  14-0. Things were beginning to look grim. Holt then momentarily woke up, good hands saw Alex Storey stopped just short and Simmo sniped over for a poacher's try. 14-5.  Holt's awakening was fleeting - Harry Jenks received a yellow card for talking back to the ref not once but twice. Having spoken to Harry afterwards, if you are going to get sent off for back chat, make it worthwhile. "No I was not" feels a bit weak and way too polite.

Contrasting styles of line-out.

The three amigos.

Ipswich then scored 2 more tries helped by poor Holt commitment to the tackle and Holt being down to 14 men. Jenks reappeared from purgatory just before half time. Jacko made a good cover tackle, Holt won the ball and Alex scored in the corner. Half time 26-10.

Shed gets his collar felt.

 A different Holt emerged from the huddle at the start of the second half. Commitment and defence were transformed. The forwards played with vim and Callum scorched away to score early doors. 26-15. The Holt back row then stole an Ipswich ball in our 22, Callum received in space and ran the length of the pitch to score near the posts. He kept his breakfast down too, although that looked a little touch and go. 26-22 with 18 minutes left - it felt like we had them on the ropes.

'Look at my eyes, my eyes, look at my eyes'.

Scrimmage.

Catch me if you can. Shed and his amazing burst of speed.

Ipswich then recovered somewhat from the onslaught and pressured our line. Resolute defence kept them out and after a clearance kick Simmo made a fast break down the blindside into the Ipswich 22. IT looked like another Holt try was on the cards when Simmo fell awkwardly and badly hurt his knee. It was a freak accident and we all wish him well for a speedy recovery. The game was stopped for 30 minutes while Simmo was tended to by ambulance crew.

Before.

After.

The injury not surprisingly took the edge off the rest of the game - final score Ipswich 38 Holt 22.
 
Turd of the game - Jenkins for the most polite carding I have seen.
Man of the match - Robin - carried well, hooked well and made some good tackles.

Next week it's Fakenham in the cup. Let's hope Ipswich got the Christmas gremlins out of our systems lads!

West Norfolk v Holt 01.12.13

Whether it was the journey or the reduced amount of players who could make this fixture the lack of enthusiasm during the warm-up was something to behold and a new level achieved by the boys this fine December morning. West Norfolk are a tough opposition with some big strong players, as well as a few speedsters and they always provide a good test when we play them.

West lent Holt three players to make it a game of 15 v 14 and despite the early pressure by West, Holt managed to score first. A break by Matti, who took a lovely flat off-load from Caz, and then continued straight through a flat West defence and Matti was away under the posts. Despite Holt's best efforts in attack and defence it was West who clearly took the first half scoring five tries.
Half time West Norfolk 27 - Holt 7

The second half three new West players in Holt shirts and a much more even half. Holt scoring first with Theo bursting through after a lot of Holt pressure and two really well contested and successful rucks Ally passed the ball out to Theo who drove through. Alec scored his second for the club and looks to be really enjoying his rugby, really good to see. Ally added Holt's fourth try after some excellent work in the centre of the pitch, diving over near the corner. The second half score five minutes before time was West 21 - Holt 19, before the last (it has to be said dubious) try. Nevermind, can't blame the ref for something he didn't see. He managed the game well and kept it flowing and more importantly did it all with good humour.

West ran out winners 58 to Holt's 26 but there were some very good elements to the game. Strong tackling, breaking runs and good work around the fringes, especially in the second half. However support play needs to be improved and we need to be quicker to the second phase. Lots to work on and take forward in the New Year when we start to play the Norfolk Cup games. Well done to everyone and all the parents for making the trip.

Pics by Holt u16s Official Photographer: Amelia Ghanbouri (who is hoping for a longer lens from Santa). If Santa is reading this it would only improve these reports.

What a beautiful day. What a beautiful jump.

Ally passes to the camera.

Action shot.

Jenks gets his man.

Alexander into the fray.

Theo into the whole of the West team.

Alex evades. Tommy T and Theo ready to support. Eventually.

Matti with his non-regulation Holt socks...

Jenks makes a break. Everyone else watches in awe.

Matti dancing.

Rob birdwatching.

The road to nowhere.

Tommy T and Alexander doing the protecting while Ally gets the ball away. Somewhere.

Swaffham v Holt 17.11.13

Although there is no official Match Report this week as all correspondents were on other stories, we do have images, courtesy of Mike Cocker (Tommy T's Grandad).

Well done to all those who made the journey to Swaffham and a big thank you to Mark Simmons for organising the boys on the day. Good to hear that Swaffham lent us the players to fill in the holes left by those absent and on Norfolk duty, without this we wouldn't have had a fixture and us coaches were very keen to ensure that this game was played. Thanks all round.

Sam and his hair.

Swaffham taking a rest.

Holt v Swaffham or rather Swaffham pack v Swaffham pack...

Sometimes we do use a ball in rugby.

Crunch time.

It's all happening over there. Somewhere.

A gaggle.

Tommy T chews some cloth.

Officially a ruck. Unofficially a lot of players, some of whom are on the floor.

Tommy T about to have his shorts inserted.

Robin hooking. Capn' Jenks at the ready.

A game of rugby.

Spot the ball.

Ignore the ball.

Scrum time. Fun time.

Holt v Ipswich 03.11.13

 

Holt and Ipswich. Posing. Especially Sim.

Holt u16s. Sporting the AEG sponsored alternative kit.

Report by Geoff Webster

On Sunday Holt entertained a touring Ipswich team on the 1st XV pitch. Training followed its usual trajectory, despite the usual exhortations of the coaches it was possible to detect the marked lack of enthusiasm on the part of the team for anything remotely approaching vigorous exercise. The great news was that we had a squad of 17 and welcomed Oli Boldero and Harrison back into the fold.

Never fear, we thought, all will be well once the whistle goes. And sure enough, transmogrification occurred.  Ipswich kicked off, Shed retrieved it without knocking on, heralding a good first 10 minutes of tightly contested play - both sides attacking and defending strongly without any breakthrough.

Then the first blow was struck. Shed received the ball out wide, and as if in slow motion (how is it Shed gives the impression of having so much time on the ball? Is he that good or does time literally slow down?) and put Alex away to power over in the corner. 5-0 Holt. From the next kick off, Alexander caught the ball, bustled forward, shipped it to Callum who applied the afterburners to scorch through the Ipswich defence to score near the posts (note: Callum is a blur, time most definitely does not stand still). 12-0 Holt. Ipswich looked a bit demoralised at this point, an impression exacerbated by the fact that in the next passage of play they pressured the Holt line intensely only for Callum to burst out of our 22, slipping it to Matty to score a tremendous break out try. 17-0 Holt.

But they obviously breed them tough in Suffolk. Obviously not true in the case of the football team, but the Ipswich rugby team responded like Saxon warriors in the shield wall. They dug in and applied the squeeze to Holt, forward and backs linking well to score near our posts. Not the best display of Holt tackling ever seen. At this point the wheels slightly came off the Holt chariot. Callum's half term in Dubai caught up with him as he retired to redecorate the touch line not once, not twice but three times. Sam Crafer strode onto the pitch, hair in good shape.

The next passage play saw a good, committed performance with neither side able to secure the upper hand. Some fine defence in particular from Ali and Jack that saw the big guy from Ipswich hobble off. Alexander and Theo showing how tight forwards should tackle, ruck and compete for ball.  Unfortunately Ipswich had a fast guy. He scored. 17-14. George Robson won turnover ball and eventually the predatory Titus went over in the corner. 24-14 at half time.

At the start of the second half Ipswich scored through a simple miss 1 backs move before Holt had recovered from their snooze at half time. Then Holt woke up. Any sense that there had been no exercise taken over half term was laid to rest as New man Alec hurtled down the left touch line, brushing off Ipswich close quarters attention to score a first try for Holt. Jack burst clear and decided to try a grubber kick ten yards short of the line, which was comfortably touched down for a 22. Just shows you: forwards should only kick other forwards. Or if they get lucky, a back. Important life lesson for Jacko, reinforced by receiving the match turd despite Callum 's regurgitations. Holt did not look back from here - some genuinely excellent rugby saw Jack, Callum and Matty add their names to the scoresheet. Final score 53-21.

Man of the match was awarded by Ipswich to Titus, who did play exceptionally well at 9. Special mention in dispatches for Theo (I have not seen him play better - all round game and excellent kick off returns).

Ipswich went home to fight another day, carrying their wounded with them. They were good sports and a very congenial lunch was enjoyed by the boys. Training next week. Oh goody!

Pics by Amelia Ghanbouri

Pre-sideline deposit.

Jenks showing how to fall over at a really inappropriate time. With his eyes shut too, what skill.

We can get higher than you, ner, ner, ner ner....

Lovely bit of balancing by Ally.

Shed. The slow-motion kid.

Alec. On the way to score his debut try. And the crowd roared.

Alexander way, way, way out in front. How?

Another missed conversion by the deadly Ally.

Titus leading the way. Tommy T trying to not get his legs in a tangle.

Matti getting an in Ipswich sandwich.

Alec, powering away. Ipswich in shreds behind him.

Alec shows he his human. And has feet for hands.

Whallop. Ipswich, meet Theo. Or was it the other way round.

Rugby is happening here. Somewhere.

Man Of The Match: Titus. Turd Of The Day: Jack.