Shelford book their place in Eastern Counties Plate final
Final beckons for colts
Theo Roberts and Nick Budenburg scored two tries apiece as Shelford colts reached the Eastern Counties Plate final with a 32-10 win over Ipswich.
The Ipswich pack had the early dominance and they went ahead following a line-out after seven minutes.
After a win against the head at the scrum, Kieran Hatter’s break was finished off with a drive from Roberts. The conversion made it 7-5 to Shelford.
They extended the lead when Roberts went round the defence to touch down for a 12-5 half-time lead.
Ten minutes after the break, Ipswich reduced the arrears with another unconverted try.
But Shelford began to take control of the game as Ollie Cooper scored in the corner after breaking clear on the 22.
Budenburg got his first try by powering through two tackles to force his way over the line, and he did the same two minutes later to make it 27-10.
Shelford completed their win when Roberts got over the gain line and offloaded to flanker Charlie Tebbitt, who handed off a tackle before rounding the full-back to touch down for 32-10.
Rhys Page’s impressive goalkicking helped Shelford under-16s to a 28-28 draw with Stockwood Park.
Shelford started brightly and went ahead through a try from Page, which he also converted.
And they doubled their lead after 19 minutes as captain Oscar Bayley picked up from the base of the scrum to drive over, with Page adding the extras.
Stockwood hit back with a converted try to make it 14-7 at half time.
Shelford were stronger again at the start of the second half, and an attacking scrum on 5m led to Jordan Barnes going over in the right corner, with Page landing the conversion from the wrong side for a right-footed kicker to make it 21-7.
A chip over the defence led to Stockwood getting a converted try, and more pressure saw them make it 21-21.
Page’s outside break beat the defence for him to score in the corner, and he landed another successful conversion to make it 28-21 with seven minutes remaining.
But Stockwood hit back with the last play of the game to score a converted try to make it 28-28.
