Category: Sport
The J1 hockey team achieved a very satisfying and hard fought ‘come-back’ victory over Norwich School. Norwich are traditionally formidable opponents and their A team travelled to Woodbridge full of confidence to continue their winning ways. The young Woodbridge team put together their own team talk, proving how much they have learned so far this term, choosing the best tactics to implement during the match. After a delayed start, Norwich started the better and dominated the first half. Luckily Alfie Franklin was on top form and kept the ball out the goal time after time. Hugo Thomas was strong in defence and managed to build good counter attacks. 1 minute before the half, Norwich finally managed to break through the defences, slotting the rebound after another good save by Alfie.
Half time gave Woodbridge a chance to regroup and give themselves a talking to. From the start of the second half Woodbridge started to turn the tide. Alfie Franklin kept his resistance up at the back but now Woodbridge made attacks too. Jack Leith scored in the 4th minute to draw the teams level. A minute later some good link up play saw debutant, Tobias Juszt make it 2-1 to Woodbridge. Will Franklin scored an excellent 3rd goal for Woodbridge. Norwich didn’t lie down and scored a few minutes from full time, converting one of their many chances, this time Alfie not being able to do much about the goal. Daniel Norman continued to dominate the midfield and showed some mature captaincy during this tense period of the match, composing his players and playing a possessions game. The final whistle went; Woodbridge 3-2 victors.
Hugo Thomas played his best match of the season and was outstanding. He was just beaten to the man of the match award by Alfie Franklin who was a match winner in goal, keeping his team well and truly in the game.
The U14 Rugby squad travelled to Woodbridge Rugby Club and claimed third place in the North Suffolk Cup Round. Having not played together since December the team acquitted themselves well with a direct brand of rugby. They came unstuck by very small margins in their first two games but dominated the others. A good squad performance and enjoyed by the players and spectating parents.
- V St Joseph’s Lost 5-0
- V TMHS lost 10-0
- V Alde Valley scorers Juszt, Barker x 2, Newland, Wright won 25-0
- V Debenham Scorers Newland x 2 Wright, Mayhew won 20-5
- V Hartismere scorers Barker, Newland, won 10-5
- Bungay scorers Wright x 2, Newland x 2, won 20-10
This means the team are into the Suffolk Plate later next month. Mr Lubbock and Mr Graham were really impressed with the effort put in. The boys really enjoyed it too!
The U12 and 13 Rugby squads played in the Woodbridge Rugby Club pool stage of the Suffolk Cup. The U13s won 2, drew one but unfortunately lost one game in their endeavours. The U12s fared better and won their three games despite being rather rusty in both defence and attack. By topping their group they now progress to the county final stages in March. We wait to hear how the U13s will progress but this will likely be in the Suffolk Plate Finals.
By Verity Hobday
Woodbridge U13B Netball team played Farlingaye U13A team at home in the A league. The final score went Farlingaye’s way in what was a difficult game for us, but we played to a good standard. When the first quarter ended the score was 9:2 to Farlingaye, but we continued to try our best. Farlingaye continues to pull away, in some great play from both teams with Woodbridge doing some great defending. Well done, Woodbridge for continuing to try our best.
By Katherine Bye
The match against Ipswich was very different to the last being outside on a very slippery court with a strong wind. The match started off with a quick pace but no goals were scored by either team in the first 8 minutes. With many great interceptions from our team going up the court, excellent defending and goal scoring we kept going and maintained control of the match. There was a constant sense of determination to win, which paid off with many goals being scored throughout the match keeping us steadily ahead of Ipswich all the way through. The final score was 16-11 with great play by all.
By Katherine Bye
Our second match for the U14A was against Farlingaye, with a large squad of 11 players we started off the first inside match with a steady pace and strong shooting. We ended the first quarter 9-4 up. A mix around of players swapping on lead into another strong quarter, but by end of the second quarter they had scored 4 more goals. However we still held our lead, 16-8. They had half our score at this stage in the match which would gain them a point in the league. We couldn’t let them have that so we came into the third quarter fighting strong with many great interceptions by Maud and Sarah in the middle third gaining us a score of 24-10. In the last quarter we started with morale high and rounded off the match by scoring 11 more goals. Combined with excellent defence only allowing Farlingaye to score two more goals meant we finished the match with a great final score of 34-12. Joanne was awarded player of the match by the other team with her great shooting shining through the score.
The 1st team boys had a revenge game against Norwich School on Saturday. The two teams met earlier in the term in the U18 Cup and Norwich took the spoils, after Woodbridge lost a two-goal lead.
Woodbridge was patient for the duration of the first half and controlled most of the ball possession. We were technically the better team, and it was clear that only mistakes from us would allow Norwich to gain momentum. Norwich had one chance in the half, which luckily hit the post and bounced to safety. Woodbridge on the other hand created numerous ones of their own, either by great passing play or individual runs, particularly by captain Callum Askins. We were finally rewarded when Ed Robson pounced on a rebound and pushed the ball over the line in the 25th minute.
Going into half time as deserving leaders, Woodbridge had to regroup soon after as Norwich struck on the counter thanks to a simple penalty corner goal. The scores were level, frustratingly so. This seemed to spur the players on and in the 12th minute Ben Kilburn converted a penalty corner move. Again Woodbridge continued to control the game and the boys were rewarded with one more goal 6 minutes from the end when Will Neall scored to make it 3-1 at the whistle.
The match saw Miles Budden make his debut in goal during the second half. Myles King, Ben Kilburn, Will Neall, Hugo Thomas and Callum Askins all had great games, to name a few. Collectively, this was a great team effort where each player delivered their performance of the season so far.
Our boys played a good, patient game against Gresham’s recently, much to their credit. The match started perfectly with a good penalty corner variation which allowed Ben Kilburn space to score at the post. However, an unfortunate corner after some slow decision making just before half time allowed Gresham’s to draw level. Soon after the restart, things got worse as an unstoppable strike at goal gave Chris Moody little chance, and the boys something of a challenge to overcome. They did so at first thanks to George Williams who showed a bit of individual brilliance, beating three players whilst travelling nearly half a pitch, before a brilliant behind the back lay-off to Myles King, who shot from the left, and then pounced on the rebound from a great save to score. A fantastic bit of play by both George and Myles: 2-2 the score!
One minute before the end Woodbridge earned a series of penalty corners, the final one resulting in the ball running loose in front of goal, and there was Ben Kilburn to pop it in. 3-2… but straight from the restart Gresham’s won their own corner… the Woodbridge defence held strong… and the final whistle signalled victory.
Hugo Kelleway was voted player of the match by his peers. George Williams, Ben Kilburn and Myles King also played very well. Ben Spence also impressed with his leadership upfront, being in the right place, at the right time.
By Neve Walker
On Tuesday 19 January the U13A had a sweaty match against Kesgrave. The first quarter was good with Woodbridge winning 11-2. This was a huge improvement when compared with the last couple of matches. That meant we would have to work very hard to keep the score difference the same. The pressure was on! In the second quarter we were still leading 17-4. This was looking good. In the third quarter we were driving ahead and still in the lead 21-7. Then came the last quarter when we only managed to get 4 goals, however our defence managed to stop most of Kesgrave’s goals. The end result was 25 – 8 to Woodbridge.