A long trek to Stowmarket for the Eastern Counties Festival gave the Colts the opportunity to test themselves against clubs from across the region. 16 clubs were split into 2 groups, with a draw to give each club 4 matches in the group stage, then points calculated and the day finishing up with 'finals'.

Up first against Norwich and within 5 minutes St Ives got their first try of the day. Norwich fought back but the St Ives lads defended well, and withing the last minute got another try, this time converted, finishing with a 12-0 win.

No rest, straight back on against Colchester, and St Ives were putting pressure on with some great attacking play. Our scrum held up well, and at 4 minutes this led to St Ives powering over for a try. Colchester fought back and for the remainder of the match both teams had some good attacking plays, but no more points on the board. Then, with just seconds left, a penalty against us allowed a quick tap and go from Colchester and the game finished 5-5.

A break then back on against Bury, but due to injury we were down to 15 players, no subs. The St Ives lads seemed to have fallen asleep during the break so spent the first half of this match constantly defending. But despite Bury looking dangerous, the St Ives defence held strong. Then a few moments later the lads woke up, we had a fantastic kick and chase, leading to our first try, nicely converted. Great teamwork led to two more St Ives tries giving us a great 17-0 win.

Our last match should have been against Diss, but unfortunately injuries meant they had to withdraw, leaving us up against Shelford X for our last group match. Shelford showed some excellent teamwork and some fumbles from St Ives meant Shelford ran in a try after 5 minutes, then another two within the next 6 minutes. But St Ives showed great spirit, defending strongly and showing some flare in attack. Not all our efforts went as planned, but a great forwards try was well deserved after some great work from St Ives. The game continued to go our way and with just a few seconds left on the clock, we thought we had our second try right in the corner, but unfortunately the tackler had just dragged a foot into touch. 5-19 was our only loss of the group stage, but against a bigger squad, the St Ives lads could hold their heads high.

With the group stage over, St Ives came 3rd in their group so played against Holt who were 3rd in their group. The St Ives lads were quick out of the blocks and within two minutes charged over for a try. The remainder of the match was a hard-fought, evenly-matched game, and it really could have gone either way. But St Ives defence held firm and the match finished with a 5-0 win for St Ives.

Coming 5th overall out of 16 teams from across the region is a great result for the team. A day to be proud of! Happy birthday to Jake who not only enjoyed scoring a try on his birthday but also discovered a novel way for the lads to empty the water bottles!