West Norfolk 7 - 26 Diss

Diss U14s travelled to King’s Lynn on Sunday to face a very good West Norfolk team. The early exchanges were evenly matched with West enjoying more possession but the Diss defence limiting their hosts’ attacking opportunities. Harvey once again showed what a destructive tackler he is, sending several West players backwards resulting in excellent turnover ball.

The deadlock was broken with another turnover and counter-rucking by Diss just outside their own 22. Quick hands followed and captain Dom found himself in a bit of space. Still with half the length of the field in front of him, he out-flanked the last defenders with his deceptive pace and touched down under the posts, winger Lewis on hand should an extra pass be needed. Aaron converted to make it 7-nil.

This score gave the Diss team the upper hand and they began to dominate more of the game.

The forwards provided a solid base for good clean ball and the backline made several forays into the opposition half with Charlie and Nathan showing good handling skills and support play to run the ball wide or punch holes through the middle, On one such occasion, after several phases of play, the ball found its way to Lewis on the right wing. His turn of speed and great running lines left 3 or 4 would-be tacklers in his wake as he went wide then cut inside for another score near the posts. Aaron again added the extras.

The half-time whistle brought some welcome relief to the West Norfolk players, but Diss started the second half in determined fashion. This time is was Sam G to show his determination with ball in hand as he went on a barnstorming run through a crowd of players. He was stopped temporarily, but somehow emerged from the resultant maul to make another 25 metres through ‘traffic’. A few phases later and Harvey was able to show the creative side of his game as he gathered an offload 30 metres from the try line and beat 4 West defenders with his power and pace run in between the posts. 2 more points from Aaron who was also having an excellent game in his unfamiliar scrum-half position.

Even at nil-21, the West Norfolk players continued to play with great character and compete on even terms. Throughout the game, they had shown strong running and support play of their own, only to be denied by a resolute Diss defence, typified by man-of-the-match Lewis who put in a string of try-saving tackles. It was thoroughly deserved therefore, when the West pressure finally paid off and several phases of passing put Keenan into the clear. He still had a lot to do and was nearly stopped by Toby covering across from the opposite wing, showing that his searing pace is such an asset in defence as well as attack. In fact his contest with the West’s speedster Ezra was a fascinating sub-plot throughout the match and their personal duel ended honours-even.

Following the West Norfolk goal, Diss took over again and their forwards showed some ascendency in the loose play in particular, with Sam W, Jedd and Tom a constant disruption to win turnover ball. Strong running and rucking from Jack, Chris, Sam B and Alex drew in lots of West players and this created more space for the Diss backs to exploit. On one such occasion, the ball made its way to Dom in a wide position again and, using Toby as a decoy runner to draw some of the defenders, he stretched his legs on another 40 metre run to dot the ball down in the corner. Aaron narrowly missed the difficult conversion.

From the restart, West made one final effort to breach the Diss line, but the visitors were too determined and repelled several waves of attack. And from this defensive stronghold, they looked to mount a final attack of their own, only for a forward pass and the ref’s final whistle to intercede.

The crowd had enjoyed an enthralling and very entertaining match, played in a great spirit by both teams, which ended with the score 7-26 in Diss’ favour.