The Wolves travelled to Ipswich YM to take part in a mini tournament against Sudbury, Wymondham and the hosts Ipswich YM on a very wet and windy day. They were placed in Pool B of the tournament.

In the first match, they were up against Sudbury and the Wolves took a little time to wake up with Sudbury scoring 2 early tries. This was the first time we had put the boys into rough positions and took some time to settle into their roles. With the boys starting to communicate more, they started to gain forward momentum through the forwards of Thomas, Ben, Adam and Fred. The rucking improved and this gave a great platform for the backs to exploit the space. At the end of the first half the Wolves had clawed back the deficit and were leading Sudbury 3 tries to 2 with scores from Adam and Harry. The second half started brightly for the Wolves, with the backs moving the ball very well. The Wolves scored a further 5 tries before Sudbury snook a late consolation try.

Final score Sudbury 15 : Wolves 40

In the second game, the Wolves faced Wymondham who had some huge boys. Wymondham scored 2 early tries before the Wolves realised these bigger boys could be tackled like anyone else. Great commitment in the tackle from Archie, Finn O and Finn J limited the Wymondham runners. With confidence growing, the forwards made ground and this opened up the space for the half back pairing of Seb/Archie and Samuel/Charlie to release the centres of Harry/Finn J and wings of Freddie/Finn O to score an impressive 12 tries. The Wolves did concede a further 3 in the second half but this was primarily down to not getting down low enough in the tackle.

Final score Wymondham 25 : Wolves 60

With all to play for in the final pool game, the Wolves knew it would be tough against our old friends at Ipswich YM. However the boys were now playing with confidence, we saw loops, miss passes and switches coming into play with very little sideways running. The forwards dominated the breakdown and seemed to win every contact. This allowed the backs a lot of free space to exploit. This was probably the best rugby of the day with every player actively involved. The wings of Freddie and Finn O defended and maintained their position to stop the poachers of YM not sneaking down the touch line.

Final score Ipswich YM 10 : Wolves 25

With the Wolves winning all of the Pool games they were top of the pool and faced Sudbury in the Cup Final. Even though the boys were now soaked to the skin, had taken some massive hits and the wind was chilling them to the bone, they were ready to take some silverware back to the Haberden.

They started brightly with Adam charging through the Sudbury defence for the opening try. Sudbury responded with a strong run and cold hands let them slip through. This seemed to galvanise the Wolves into action and by half time they had scored a further 2 tries and led 3:1 at the break. In the second half the boys committed everything and with Sudbury not being able to respond the Wolves scored a further 4 tries without a single response.

Final score : Sudbury 5 : Wolves 35

This was a great team effort from all of the players to win four games and take the trophy at Ipswich YM mini tournament. They scored an impressive 32 tries and every position was on the score sheet from forward to wing, and half back to centre.

Well done boys for braving the elements and digging in deep to win the final, you all did the Wolves and your parents proud!