On a misty evening in Stowmarket, six players from Holt U17's represented Norfolk in a tri county cup game v Suffolk.
This new format competition between Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk is an opportunity for players across the three counties to play representative rugby and is a further gateway to the Eastern Counties squad set up.

Holt initially had 8 players selected for this fixture but injury to Mathew Austin (ribs) and Jack Small (broken finger) saw this reduced to six.

Tom Bailey (12) James D'Amery (9) Charlie Hewitt (3) Owen Ridgeway (4) Gregor Townsend (10) Tom Meggason (2)

During the warm up Norfolk lost a further player, Henley Brightman (North Walsham RFC ) and the starting lineup started to look a little depleted. This was evidenced within a minute of the K/O when Suffolk scored the first of 3 tries inside 5 minutes. Norfolk then settled and the game was more of a contest over the remainder of the half but Suffolk scored again before half time to make the score 26 - 0.
The second half was a turnaround of fortunes (if not score) as Norfolk pushed hard for territory and that elusive first try. Shortly after the restart Norfolk lost a further couple of players to Injury before Gregor Townsend (10) had to leave the pitch with a wrist injury. Unfortunately this has been confirmed as a fracture.
Suffolk continued to run a mock however and scored a further try before James D'Amery (9) sniped from the base of a breakdown, drove under several defenders to go over the line, but a try was disallowed because the officials could not see the ball grounded under the mass of bodies. Shortly after Patrick Walton (Wymondham RFC) crossed the line in a similar manner to finally chalk up a well deserved score for Norfolk. Suffolk scored a further two tries despite the efforts of the Norfolk boys. Final Score 45 - 7.

Suffolk proved to be a class act and having beaten Cambridgeshire last weds 22 -17 they deservedly received the Eastern County Championship Cup.
Norfolk will play again on Wednesday 31st v Cambridge.