This trip towards the Suffolk coast on Mothering Sunday turned into a great advert for youth rugby and the game in general, as both sides came together to produce some fine entertainment. Bury had more than 20 players unavailable so did well to get a decent squad out once again; we are very fortunate and grateful to have more players than a lot of local clubs these days.

The game opened with early pressure from Woodbridge being more than adequately dealt with by some great tackling from Reuben Sorooshian and Ryan Webb in particular. Bury were winning every scrummage and competing strongly at the lineout, and the extra possession this generated soon told. Charlie Feehan and Jack Griggs made good breaks down the middle, before Billy Reid burst through from full-back to beat the last three defenders and run in from the right wing to score under the posts. Seemingly on a mission to regain his position as Bury’s top scorer Reid was again on the scoresheet only moments later, collecting a deep kick and outpacing the home defence once more.

Charlie Feehan converted the second score and then got on the try list himself. Charlie Chapman made a great run down the middle, sending defenders this way and that, before Feehan neatly stepped two defenders at once and sprinted away down the left-hand touchline to touch down under the sticks. Billy Reid converted this one to leave the score at 19-0 after ten minutes.

When Woodbridge did secure some ball to play with, Ryan Webb was having a great game, giving them no space to move with some crunching tackles. Will Hudson was enjoying a little more freedom and made some rampaging runs before Billy Reid completed a seven-minute hat trick after the impressive Charlie Feehan put him into space. Ollie Cooper was enjoying his best game for some time, making some speedy breaks and was always solid in defence and Charlie Chapman put in the hard yards to cover a line break down the side. There was still time for one more score in the first third and it was Reid again, seemingly unstoppable at times, who took advantage of a solid scrum by the forwards and a clever switch of play from the alert Feehan, to breakaway from the halfway line and score. Feehan converted to leave the interval score at 31-0.

It was obviously in nobody’s interests to see a one-sided friendly game continue in the same vein so, for the second period, Billy Reid and Will Hudson admirably agreed to pull on the Woodbridge jersey. Bury scored first again however, Todd Hutchinson alert to an interception and then Jake Sadler driving over, Hutchinson adding the extras. The Bury players were particularly keen to keep both Reid and Hudson quiet, but in doing so this created extra space for Woodbridge to attack. Reid turned provider to assist a score back for the home side, before then showing his pace again to score once more himself. Harry Wooldridge was excelling all around the park to go with his expert lineout skills but then, despite some good defensive work again from Reuben Sorooshian, Woodbridge added to their tally to leave the score at 38-17 to Bury after two-thirds of the match.

In the interests of a fair contest and for all the players to benefit most from the final third the coaches decided to mix the teams up, a useful exercise in playing with different players and styles. The Woodbridge forwards joined forces with the Bury backs and vice-versa to form two fairly evenly matched sides. The next twenty minutes was played out in good spirits, with the Bury pack and Woodbridge backline coming out narrowly ahead by three tries to two. Particular highlights for the Bury players were Angus Hudson channelling his inner Jonah Lomu by capping his first appearance on the wing with an unstoppable charge to the line; Harry Wooldridge scoring the try his all-round performance deserved; Todd Hutchinson continuing his recent perfect goal-kicking record; Charlie Chapman running half the pitch with the ball safely in just the one hand; Jake Sadler doubling his tally for the match with another well taken try and Billy Reid putting the icing on a sensational individual performance with a length of the pitch sixth try.

A very enjoyable game played in great spirits, and good to see Bury players turning out for the opposition and just enjoying the sport. With all the seriousness and sadness at times in this world, it is quite reassuring just to witness good natured sport for sport’s sake, and to not be worrying about who’s winning for a change.