Holt's first league visit to Ipswich ended in a heavy defeat at the hands of a side who had also won their two opening games convincingly.

Holt played with the wind behind them from the start but were rocked back on their heels when Ipswich mounted an early attack and by spreading it wide, scored a converted try after two minutes. The visitors had the chance to narrow the deficit a minute later with a penalty which was off target.

The home side were showing through their backs what a determined outfit they are and they were further rewarded after 14 minutes with an unconverted try, following a defensive mix up. The visitors were making every effort to take the game to their opponents and were rewarded after 19 minutes when Jarry-Ryan scored a good individual try, with Allen adding the points.

This encouraged Ipswich to again test Holt's defence further and increase their lead with another converted try. Holt again made every effort to get on to the score sheet again and following a line-out in the Ipswich 22, the visitors executed one of their driving mauls over the goal line for Jake Van Poortvliet to claim the touch down. With the conversion missing, the score now stood at 19-12 to the home side, but it had put Holt back in contention.

The hosts had other ideas and again breached the Holt defence for a further converted try but Holt finished the half on the offensive and were rewarded when Allen kicked his second penalty to make the half-time score 26-15 to Ipswich.

The hosts again put Holt's defence to the test from the early stages of the half and it was no surprise when another converted try was conceded after six minutes.

However all was not lost as following another excursion into the Ipswich half, Allen kicked his third penalty to reduce the deficit to 33-18.

This was to be Holt's last contribution to the scoreline and although they made strenuous efforts to test the home side's defence, it was the other way round with Ipswich adding a further converted try four minutes later. Despite the possession enjoyed by the hosts, Holt's defence made every effort to keep their line intact against a rampant side but two more breakthroughs occurred. Some respite was achieved when the last try went unconverted, making the final score 52-18 to the home side.

This convincing win put them clear at the top of the table and Holt into the lower half with five points from three games.

Despite the onslaught against them, Holt made a worthy contribution to the game but the level of rugby they have reached is going to be hard and fast and they have to learn from this defeat.