Thurston Rangers win Suffolk Chadacre Cup with 19-14 victory over Ipswich YM

Players and staff at Thurston Rugby Club are in celebratory mood this week after they won the final of the Suffolk Chadacre Cup, in Ipswich, on Saturday.

The 19-14 scoreline was a close run thing for the Rangers who came away with the victory against league rivals Ipswich YM, who they also beat the previous week 15-7 in a relegation battle in London 3 Eastern Counties.

The visitors fell behind to a converted try but fought back to lead 19-7 with tries from Jamie Drury, Oli Paxman and captain Ed Ballam.

The hosts came back at them but did not have enough, falling five points short at 19-14, sparking celebrations from the travelling support in the crowd, which in total numbered around nearly 200.

It was the first time the club has lifted the Suffolk Chadacre Cup – the premier cup competition for teams in Suffolk and Essex and level 8, where Thurston play, and below. The club had previously won the Suffolk Plate, the last time in 2003, which provides a pathway into the latter stages of the Chadacre Cup.

Thurston went into the game knowing they had the measure of their opponents having done the league double over the only side below them in the table.

But YM went ahead when centre James Taber went in under the posts with Charlie Harvey adding the extras two points.

Thurston then came back into the game and threatened to score and just before the break fly-half Drury crossed the line with Kieran Cusker’s conversion the last action of the half.

With just four minutes gone of the second period Thurston took a 12-7 lead through number eight Paxman.

And despite concerted pressure from YM on the hour Ballam charged through a gap in the defensive line from inside the 22 metre-line with his arching run in on the posts making Cusker’s kick a formality.

At 19-7 it looked a long way back for the hosts but they re-ignited the game just over 10 minutes from time with a converted try which came from Harvey.

It set up a tense finale but Rangers held out to the final whistle which resulted in wild celebrations from the Thurston team and their band of followers.

Ballam’s view of the game told of the Rangers starting well and although for the first 10/15minutes Ipswich YM had most of the possession Thurston’s defence held strong, with some serious upfront tackling and great defensive line that Ipswich YM could not find a way through.

He added: “Unfortunately a gap appeared and YM got through to take the first points of the game. With some clever kicking from full back Kieran, Rangers we were able to gain some good territory and spent a good amount of time in the Ipswich YM 22 however despite some gutsy forwards work and some good tackling the Ipswich defence held strong and there was no way through for Thurston.

“This was until some patient work saw fly half Jamie Drury, find a gap and with his dynamic speed broke through Ipswich’s back line to score a try under the posts.

“In a closely matched game the second half started with the Rangers having the upper hand. With some good pressure from the forwards and some awesome rolling mauls the Rangers were able to force themselves over the line and touch down.”

He said the rest of the second half was fairly evenly matched from both teams until he found a gap in the Ipswich back line and ran in an easy try.

“This looked like it was complete for the Rangers and the win was in the bag, however with some poor tackling Ipswich got another try with 10 mins to go, which made for a tense end to the game, but the Rangers defence held strong and with the final whistle blown it was game over and the boys lifted the cup and made history,” said Ballam.