Maturity. Inteligence Discipline

DISS 17:17 Lowestoft & Yarmouth

After a herculean effort the previous week against Holt would DISS manage to keep the momentum going against Lowestoft & Yarmouth side that had beaten DISS at Mackenders earlier in the season? As with Holt I’m sure L&Y expected to do the double on DISS on home turf with relative ease, this wasn’t how it was to be.

Again pre-match the talk was around hitting the game hard from the off to put L&Y firmly on the back foot to take advantage of the massive step change DISS have made over the last month or so. Again, as against Holt, DISS did not disappoint scoring the first try via Burrows after some fantastic physical play from the pack with Ronayne, Oakley, Paine and Oscar (sorry I will learn Oscars last name for next week but welcome to the Team!)rampaging around the field with Bowman, Bray and Lloyd hitting the breakdown fast, securing the ball well enabling sustained phases of play to create the space.

Intelligent play was the name of the game this time for DISS, they maintained their concentration and more importantly they maintained their discipline resulting in a multitude of penalties against L&Y as they became frustrated in their inability to take hold of the game. Watson, with a good supply of ball from the pack from the set piece and quality passing from Jolly, used the ball well with a mix of running, passing and clever kicking, kept L&Y wondering what was coming next. From Watsons tactical kicking it soon became apparent with the speed of Chopra and Cleverley on the wings, that this was a good attacking tactic that, had the ball just bounced right, Chopra would have been away but this week it wasn’t to be but next week it just well might be.

With the ball in hand DISS looked dangerous, when defending the gaps appeared resulting in L&Y equalising the scores and taking the lead with the conversion 7:5 midway through the first half, if DISS can cut out these lapses of concentration in defence, keep the “Wall of Blue” as the Coaches are drilling into the lads, and make the tackles, then more wins will come because as an attacking side there are few teams that can stop them once their momentum builds.

DISS did not relent on the pressure and from a good set piece, good hands from Short at inside centre sent Hutchings away on a strong run that left him only inches away from the try line, quick support from the pack saw Ronayne secure the ball to score under the posts ably converted by Watson, putting DISS in the lead 7:12.

L&Y were always going to have their moments and with 10 minutes left in the first half they strung together some good phases of play resulting in them tying the score 12:12 followed quickly after by another try, with a hint of being forward, but that’s the decisions that sometimes go with you sometimes not, lead to L&Y going into half time 17:12 in the lead.

The second half was a real battle, with the slope and wind in their favour L&Y kept the pressure on DISS but again the maturity and skill of Griffiths at fullback, meant that the kicking game of L&Y wasn’t as effective as it might have been, as Griffiths fielded the kicks with ease and either returned with his own, jinking runs, or cleared the immediate pressure with his boot. Such release of pressure allowed DISS to gain momentum again, along with quick tap penalties, from Watson from many misdemeanours from L&Y, released some great runs from Bray and Lloyd, who linked together well feeding Hutchings in space some thirty yards out to sprint, (yes sprint James), into the corner to score a great try bringing the scores even at 17:17 with ten minutes to go.

The last ten minutes were a gritty affair with some very physical play, if I can put it that way, from L&Y that DISS matched through playing the game hard but with superb discipline that made the Coach’s immensely proud, to finish the game off with a draw.

To summarise, before the game started we asked the guys to do one thing, to improve on the week before, they certainly did that, they are now playing with a consistency at the basic level that will allow the Coach’s to build on the skill levels week on week to build a great side. Roll on the next game!

Training on Thursday night for as many as can make it please.

Kevin
Coach.