After winning the home leg of the Suffolk Derby, Stowmarket travelled to Ipswich knowing that a win for either side would change the course of Regional 2 Anglia. A win for Stow would put a large amount of daylight between them and danger, whereas a win for Ipswich would drag Stow into a relegation battle.

Stow began the half well and started to get to work on the Ipswich defence. Typically strong carries from the forwards backed up with some slick width and pace from the backs got the away side creeping towards the Ipswich line. A classic derby game meant there were a number of handling errors and big hits flying in which disrupted the play of both sides. Stow showed their class however and after a kick for touch from a penalty gained an attacking lineout in the 22 which saw the first try of the game. A strong carry from Ali Vivian plus the backhand offload to the supporting Zak Chine Lacey saw him crash in under the posts. A great finish from the back row who still had to bat his way through several defenders. Jonathan Mann adding the extras. Similar exchanges of line breaks, errors, and hard graft summarised the first half, with Stow perhaps feeling a little disappointed to have not further pressed their advantage. Jonathan Mann added a penalty kick to the tally to make the half time score 0-10.

The second half began with an Ipswich backlash, with Stow not seeing the ball for about two minutes. A fantastic response from the team however saw the second try of the game go in from a maul. Ipswich were indecisive and committed a couple of players to the advancing drive when others stood off, which allowed prolific lock Ali Vivian to detach from the drive and power over to continue his impressive try tally for the season. Mann missed the conversion from the corner. An air of calm from Stow then allowed Ipswich back into the game, with Stow’s tackling becoming high and ineffective, allowing the home side to mount a fightback from some tight forward play before going out wide to wrestle a try back. Score 5-15 with twenty five minutes to go. Thankfully Stow's attack was continuing to function, with good lineout ball generating a break in midfield, followed up by some good ball speed which allowed Jonathan Mann to wriggle through some defenders and crash over for Stow’s third and final try. The extras added.

The end to the game highlighted how important it is to maintain focus in defence for a full eighty minutes. Ipswich continued to play a short game with their heavy forwards and a combination of this and some high tackle technique gave them another two scores, with the game getting more edgy with five minutes to go at 15-22. Stowmarket however showed their quality and were awarded a penalty on their try line after some quality work over the ball to disrupt Ipswich’s attack.

Director of Rugby, Ash Cook, said after the game:

‘We are absolutely thrilled to have secured a league double this season. The added extra of it being over our neighbours makes it a little sweeter. Most importantly however, that is our second successive away win and we are undefeated away in 2023 which is something we should be really proud of. I'd like to thank all of the supporters for having our backs today especially in that second half. To be applauded off by our travelling supporters was really special and I know the players appreciated that. We go to Woodford next week hungry to get another win on the road and show everyone what we are about and that we are a tough side to put down.'