Sudbury 14 – 12 Newmarket

This was a thoroughly enjoyable game to watch, played in a good spirit by both sides on Sudbury's impressive new ground.

In fact both sides struggled to find their best form. Sudbury attacked strongly through their backs but fumbled their passes far too often. Newmarket drove strongly in the forwards but lost too much ball in contact.

For much of the first half there was little between the teams and there seemed no danger when Toby Colletta, playing at flanker, picked the ball from the back of the scrum and ran sideways towards the touchline. However, he proved too pacy for the home side and curved outside the Sudbury defence. A despairing tap tackle proved too little to stop him touching down under the posts for his first try for Newmarket. Joe Stafford converted on the stroke of half time.

Sudbury began to dominate in the second half. They kicked away quite a lot of possession but eventually it was a cross-field kick that enabled them to even the score as Newmarket failed to defend against their speedy backs.

However, Newmarket fought their way back and were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Unfortunately, they turned down the opportunity for 3 points in exchange for an unsuccessful attempt to score from the tap penalty. As it turned out those three points made all the difference to the final result.

Sudbury took the lead with five minutes left with their second converted try. However, there was just time for Dan Bristow to crash over in the corner. Joe Stafford found himself with another conversion kick to end the match and level the score. But this time the acute angle proved too  difficult and Sudbury ran out winners by 2 points.

Joe Metts, for his tackling, and Toby Colletta were declared men of the match.