Under 17’s

EC Cup Play off - Shelford 53 Norwich 0 

Shelford marched into the semi-finals of the EC Cup with a stunning team performance that was even a couple of notches up from last week's emphatic win over Ely. Shelford started well with their 'high tempo'  game and were 3-0 up from a Lewis Cracknell penalty after Norwich were penalised at the breakdown. This was quickly followed by Calum Shaw crossing the line after some great support play, converted by Cracknell for a 10-0 lead after only about 6 minutes of play. Shelford became a little sloppy in the next 10 minute period as they didn't play to their set structure. During this period they botched a couple of good scoring opportunities which gave Norwich hope with a couple of breakaway interceptions, but scrambled defence kept them scoreless. 

Shelford then picked their game up as they went through the phases once more, and as Calum Shaw cut a great line, he drew the final defender to put Dan Burling into the corner for a 15-0 lead. Another move involving quick hands and good depth saw winger Toby Poirier run into the corner for a more comfortable 20-0 lead. Just before the break a set move from an attacking scrum saw Shelford create more space out wide for Poirier to run round under posts, converted by Cracknell for a 27-0 half-time lead. No initial changes were made at half-time as Shelford now had the slope and breeze against them, but early pressure on Norwich ball close to their line saw us force a turnover and Cracknell picked up the loose ball to cross the line under the posts. He then slotted the conversion to take the score to 34-0. Poirier then completed a fine hat-trick as he cut inside the defence, converted by Cracknell, 41-0. 

More pressure on Norwich ball close to their line saw Cracknell charge down an attempted clearance kick and proceeded to dive on the loose ball for a second try, 46-0. Lewis Green capped a fine display by running back a Norwich clearance kick, but a number of missed tackles allowed him to go all the way for a richly deserved score, converted by Ross Ferguson, 53-0. Norwich were pushing hard for a score late on, but were met with some resolute defence.

A great result and performance by Shelford against a quality Norwich side. 

Under 15’s

Shelford 77 Ely 10 

Shelford tries: Matt McCann (3), Toby Hackett (2), Sam Collicott, Ben Bishop, Tom Sherrington-Scales, Ivan Karsten, Stephen Douglas, Rew George, George Smith, penalty try 

Conversions: Tom Sherrington-Scales (3), Rory Hutchinson (3) 

Shelford knew too much for an inexperienced Ely team on Sunday at Davey field. The tone was set from the kick off when powerful flanker Sam Collicott caught the kick off and drove to the opposition goal line. From the resulting scrum Colly again received the ball stood at inside centre and dived over for the opening score. Ely came back powerfully and showed that their strength was through the forwards. A series of mauls had Shelford under pressure and when the ball was spun wide the Ely winger was over in the corner.  Unfortunately for Ely they were unable to cross the try line again until Shelford had 70 points on the board - in the meantime the fast recycling game played by Shelford had them constantly on the back foot. Shelford scored 6 further first half tries through Ben Bishop, Tom Sherrington-Scales, Rew George, Ivan Karsten, Matt McCann and a penalty try. Three Shezza conversions made the half-time score 41-5. 

Ely came out strongly at the start of the second half and again put Shelford under pressure. Inevitably however as the game wore on there were gaps outwide and the Shelford backs were well placed to exploit them. Wingers Matt McCann and Toby Hackett grabbed two second half tries each, with further tries from inside centre Stephen Douglas and No 8 George Smith. Rory Hutchinson added three conversions. Ely never gave up and kept coming back. They showed a tremendous attitude, and their commitment and bravery was rewarded with another try from a tap penalty. The final score was 77-10 to Shelford. 

Under 14’s

Shelford 31 Brentwood 24

“SAY not the struggle naught availeth....” (Arthur Hugh Clough)

The Under 14’s thought they were hosting Cambridge, but Cambridge thought they were hosting Diss. Diss thought they were visiting Cambridge, so Shelford was left without a game. At least that was the case until the fixture fairy sprinkled some magic whitewash and conjured up a contest against Brentwood. (Thanks Rory.)

The Under 14’s went into this game following an (at least to Shelford) unexpected loss to Huntingdon and a too-easy win over Diss and the team needed a challenge to measure themselves by. Brentwood certainly provided a challenge and the Shelford players rose to it admirably.

The Brentwood team made a strong start to the game creating considerable pressure, which Shelford resisted for much of the first quarter. The pressure eventually told and Brentwood crossed the line for the first score of the game. Shelford fought back and began to secure more of the ball but Brentwood continued to look the stronger team. Connor Hein-Jones gave the home team hope towards the end of the first quarter when he took the first points for Shelford, setting off on a darting and dodging run from the half-way line, evading the Brentford defence to score. Peter Gordon converted the try to place Shelford, rather unexpectedly and against the run of play, 7-5 ahead at the end of the first quarter.

Shelford made a significant number of changes to the team for the second quarter and took some time to settle back into the rhythm of the game. Brentwood took full advantage of this, scoring three tries, two of which were converted. Half-way through the game Brentwood were winning by 24 points to seven and Shelford faced a daunting task if they were to avoid losing by a significant margin.

We are not quite sure what the coaches told the players at half-time but it certainly did the trick. Shelford came out fighting and took the game to Brentwood, showing a determination that had been lacking earlier and a confidence that continued to grow as the game went on. Pressure from Shelford led to a penalty in their favour early in the third quarter. Alistair Russell shipped the ball to Lawrie Oxley on the wing, who sprinted forward to cross the line, with Peter converting. Further tries followed from Ollie Parker and Kieran Moore to leave the score at the end of the third quarter at 24-24. Shelford continued in the same vein for the final quarter, taking the offensive, disrupting the opposition’s game and showing good aggression against a team that was, for the most part, significantly larger.

The pressure from the home team began to tell and Brentwood began to lose their discipline. Shelford continued to press and a strong move by the backs got the ball to David Pugh who ran in a try (converted by Peter) to put Shelford back in the lead. Shelford were unlucky not to move further ahead with a penalty kick but continued to dominate until the final whistle.This was an heroic and inspired performance by the Shelford team, courage and persistence eventually being rewarded. There remain, of course, areas on which work is needed but this was a performance of which the whole team can be proud. Thanks also to Brentwood for travelling and for providing strong opposition.

Ipswich 0 – 20 Shelford 

Try Scorers: Louis Neal x 2, Erik Bell & Tom Cropper  

It was an early start for all this morning with those getting their first getting into the club car park and the rest having to park in Stowmarket with a brisk walk back to make the start of the first game. Once this nonsense was out of the way everyone could focus on playing rugby and Shelford got off to a great start. Shelford took the game to Ipswich with lots of pressure and were rewarded when Louis Neal got his first of the morning driving over to score in the corner. Our second came from the restart when Stan Clark go the ball ran straight, off loaded to Louis to score in the corner.

The second half started the same way as the first with good periods of Shelford pressure, our third try came after Tom Cropper made a good run and a minor miracle occurred when he passed out to the wing, luckily Erik Bell wasn’t as shocked as the parents and kept his cool to score in the corner. Our last try came after the forwards won the line out, it was passed out to Tom Cropper to score in the far corner.  

Ipswich 0 – 40 Shelford 

Try Scorers: Tom Whitehead, Ryan Deamer, Tom Cropper (charity try), Garret Shannon, Stan Clark x 2, Finn Karsten & Tom Parkes 

A convincing win in the second game of the morning with many good performances coming from all the team. The first try came from Tom Whitehead who did a clever dummy 5m’s out to create the space to make it over the try line to score. Our second followed quickly when Ryan Deamer caught the ball inside his own half to ghost his way through the Ipswich defence to score under the posts with a great try. The third came after a period of Shelford pressure, Kieran Hatter did all the work to break down the Ipswich defence, drove over the try line and gave the ball to Tom Cropper who casually put the ball down to score. Shelford piled on the tries in the second half, the first came soon after the start with the forwards driving the play, Garret Shannon picked up the loose ball 5m out and dived over the line to score his first of the season. From the re-start Miles Brown caught the ball made up 20m, off loaded the ball to Stan Clark to score in the centre.

The sixth try came after a run from Ryan Deamer passing out to Henry Glydon and onto Finn Karsten to score in the corner. Same school trio working together. The seventh came after an excellent run by Tom Parkes who got the ball well within our half to run 60m to score in under the posts. Tom like Ryan before him showed the Ipswich defence a clean pair of heels. Fittingly the last Shelford try came from Man of the Match Stan Clark who had an outstanding morning and made a significant contribution in both games. The try came from a line out, ball passed along the backs to Stan who drove into the far corner.  Well done to all players for a great team effort.

Under 11’s

Shelford 40 Ipswich 0

As ever it was a dull overcast morning at Ipswich with Shelford down 8 squad players and expected to play two full strength Ipswich sides.  Nevertheless the boys were confident and a number were expected to play in unfamiliar positions. (Sam Hurd controlled both sets of backs from scrum half position !); Tom French had a solid performance at fly half with Findlay also having a go at scrum half in the last game. Hayden , Luke, Julian  and others moved around the back positions with ease.  This shows the continued need to give all the boys a go in positions they feel they can play, especially in training . For the first time this year they played for each other irrespective of ability and it payed off. A great result for the club

Game 1 – Ipswich A 0 Shelford Mixed 5

Close game, good aggression and determination from both sides. Some really tough rucking that at times was bone crunching stuff. Good thinking before passing and excellent rucking. Harry was unlucky to sustain a bad ankle injury in a ruck. Some excellent driving runs and breaks from the line out by both Nicholas and Josh Butler, kept Ipswich wondering what we would do next. As the game progressed, Shelford, never really looked like they would lose.  The backs sought out gaps, one particularly excellent move saw Julian stopped just short of the line by excellent cover defence. However wave after wave of attack and it was inevitable that Ipswich would infringe, they did unfortunately within yards of their try line! As the clock ticking over into the red Henry stepped up to take the penalty move. 10 seconds later, after Henry Breeze had blasted his way over the line, there was a smiling Shelford team and a very unhappy Ipswich team as the final whistle blew. A narrow but well deserved victory, won by the boys constantly doing what they train to do.

Game 2 - Ipswich B 0 Shelford Mixed 5

Excellent and fluid running with ball in hand supported by strong rucking and second phase ball. Dynamic tackling by Tom, breakaway drives by Findlay with Julian, Hayden and Luke in hot pursuit, led to an excellent phase of play once again rounded off by Sam Hurd who darted over for a try.

Game 3 - Shelford 25 Ipswich B 0

Following a good restart a ruck ensued, ball snatched by Henry who ploughed his way over the line to score. Ipswich scrum, ball picked out by Sam who darted straight through the Ipswich backs to go over the line to score.  Penalty restart, a great run by Sam and a quick pass to Finlay Thompson who dived over the line to score. Shelford scrum at the half way line, Sam now on fire, picked out the ball and ran like a man possessed to dive over the line to score again. Henry scored a second try following an excellent drive down the right hand touch line, not often we see a maul working so well.

Game 4 - Shelford 5 Ipswich 0

Ipswich put out a strong 'mixed team' with forwards well up for scrummaging. Nicholas who had put many hard yards in continued to drive solidly in the scrum to hold back the pressure. Young Archie never tired all day and hooked anything that was directed under his feet........... Fortunately the ball most of the time!Ipswich had yet to score so were a little grisly. Shelford scrum, ball swiftly passed along the line to Sam to dash for the line to score.

A great morning’s rugby ............. all credit to the boys who turned out to play.

Under 10’s

Aggregate score: Ipswich 50 – Shelford 65 

Today Under 10s played a great series of matches against Ipswich. Last year when we played Ipswich, we were resoundingly beaten and today we proved how far we have come in the last year. The practice is clearly paying off! 

Match 1 - Ipswich 10 – Shelford 0

Against a very strong Ipswich Tigers team, our boys were a bit slow to get going and held back rather than getting stuck into the rucks. However, in the second half play warmed up, with some very solid defence, good tackles and some pretty close moments where it looked like Shelford might score. Some particularly good play from Big Jack here but sadly a nasty tackle on Ben led him to go off injured and miss most of the rest of play for the day. 

March 2 - Ipswich 0 – Shelford 15

Shelford came out very strongly in this match and started pushing over rather than snatching at the ball in the rucks. Some really good offensive work, straight running and some team work between Jack, Michael and Patrick led to Patrick scoring a fantastic try out of a scrum. A great run from Michael lead to him scoring Shelford’s second try. Finally again some good passing team work and Bart scored Shelford’s third try. 

Match 3 - Ipswich 15 – Shelford 15

In this closest of matches, every time Shelford scored, Ipswich got one back. The teams were evenly matched; the tackles were going in and there was some good individual play from Pym as he scored a hat trick. Passing was a bit weak in this match on the Shelford side but all in all a very good performance. 

Match 4 - Ipswich 15 – Shelford 0

This was a tough match and Ipswich scored two convincing tries very quickly. Not enough rucking and too much standing off by Shelford did not help but the team put up a much more spirited performance in the second half. Sadly Michael landed on his knee after a tackle and had to retire injured and missed the rest of play. Not our day for injuries!! 

Match 5 - Ipswich 10 – Shelford 10

Even though some of the boys were getting tired by this time, their performance here was excellent. Pym added to his previous hat trick with a further 2 tries. Well done Pym! 

Match 6 - Ipswich 0 – Shelford 25

Aggregate Score Shelford 250 Ipswich 185 

Shelford Saints played three games against Ipswich winning 40-35, 55-45 and drawing 20-20

Shelford Sharks also played three games winning 25-10, 30-15 and drawing 30-30

Shelford A won 35-15 and Shelford B drew 15-15 

This week the U8s travelled the 60 miles up the A14 to Ipswich.  An outstanding squad performance resulted in 8 unbeaten matches, with 5 wins and 3 draws.  More pleasing that the unbeaten record and the convincing aggregate win was the way the Shelford teams played.  Excellent support play and some confident passing and handling repeatedly ended in well worked tries.  When Ipswich had the ball the Shelford teams turned all their efforts to tagging and were just as convincing.  In the first half of the Sharks’ first game they turned the Ipswich ball over 3 times. As the games were played the Shelford players’ confidence to run and pass grew.  This culminated in the best try the U8s have ever scored.  All 7 players touched the ball as play moved from one side of the pitch to the other.  Each pass, sometimes even without a tag, seemed to create more space and eventually William Barnett was able to touch down in the corner. 

It is clear that the players are quickly developing the skills they will need and are enjoying their rugby at their same time. This week 14 players scored but special mention goes to Charlie Hurd for scoring 8 tries and Joshua Speechley for scoring 12.  This week’s player-of-the-day award went to Seb Clatworthy who repeatedly halted Ipswich attacks with some determined chasing and tagging.  Everyone who represented Shelford Rugby Club U8s in this fixture can be pleased with their efforts.  

Under 7’s

Aggregate score:- Shelford 115 Ipswich 85

Sharks 10 Ipswich 25; Sharks 25 Ipswich 10; Sharks 20 Ipswich 15

Lions 30 Ipswich 15; Lions 5 Ipswich 15; Lions 25 Ipswich 5 

A very busy but fantastic morning of rugby at Ipswich today. Shelford followed up the good progress they have been making since our prolonged winter break by playing some of their best rugby of the season so far. It was so encouraging to see the boys support the ball carrier and to be able to collect a quick pass once a team mate was tagged. We scored many tries today playing this type of rugby; brilliant team work. The format of the morning was to play two teams from each club playing simultaneous matches, three matches per team, so as mentioned it was a busy morning of rugby. The Sharks got off to a slower start playing a strong Ipswich side and were quickly down by a couple of tries. However they rallied to come back with a try a piece from Brian O’Shea and Joe Huntly but went down by two tries to Ipswich’s five. In the second game Brian O’Shea continued his fine try scoring form by scoring a hatrick and was ably supported by Toby Owers weighing in with two to cap a fine win, five tries against two from the opposition. The final game for the Sharks was a tighter affair with Ipswich coming back at them again but the Sharks held on to win by one try. The Sharks four tries came from Freddy Sales, Joe Huntly and another brace from Toby Owers. The Lions playing on the next pitch got off to a blistering start with George Shannon running in a hatrick before Ipswich had a chance to respond. In the second half George Shannon showed he was still very much in the groove with a further two touch downs for an impressive five try haul! The Lions other try was scored by one of our Ipswich stand in players, Roman. The second game for the Lions was a much tighter affair and against a strong Ipswich team the Lions went down three tries to one with Josh Barrett the only scorer. For the final game the Lions got back into their winning stride and played some brilliant rugby to finish and showed fantastic team work to spread the tries across the team.  The five tries came from George Shannon, Josh Barrett, Joe Huntly, Brian O’Shea and Toby Owers. Player of the day was Zacc Crowther.