Diss 24 - 5 Holt

After an impeccably-observed 2 minutes of reflection and remembrance, the Diss and Holt U14s took to the field for this Norfolk Cup fixture.

Both teams played with urgency from the off although this led to a scrappy opening 5 minutes as attempted offloads turned into spills and turnover ball on numerous occasions. Indeed, it was one such misadventure that saw Diss lose ground from the half-way line with a string of mis-placed passes under the pressure of some good Holt tackling, eventually gifting the visitors the ball inside the Diss 22 enabling the Holt winger to touch the ball down in the corner. 0-5.

Fortunately, the Diss players realised that retaining the ball was more important that risky passing attempts and settled into their normal playing style. A strong scrum provided a solid platform for clean ball and their backs began to enjoy running the ball through several pairs of hands tying to find gaps in the resilient Holt defence. It was midway through the half that Diss’ patience paid off and after several phases of play Charlie found a bit of space on the wing to make ground up to the Holt 22. About to be engulfed by 3 defenders, he found an inside pass to Harvey who stormed his way through several tackles to within a couple of metres of the try line. It looked as though the move had broken down but Sam W appeared on his fellow centre’s shoulder to take a deft pop pass and scamper under the posts. Captain Aaron converted. 7-5.

The Diss team began to enjoy good field position although it was hard-fought. Some fearless defending from Aaron and Leo halted several Holt forays and this was complemented by some crunching tackles from Harvey and Harry that literally knock the visitors off their stride. The forwards continued to have the upper hand in the loose, with Jack leading by example to win a number of crucial rucks. The home side is also fortunate in having 2 sets of front-row players and both hookers (Jedd and Thomas) were able to win strikes against the head. Diss’ second try resulted from one such scrum with the ball passed quickly along the back line again. Harvey set off on another storming run and, aided by a deft sleight of hand, created a gap in the Holt defensive line to run through unopposed from 40m out. Aaron added the extras. 14-5.

The second half saw Holt continue to threaten on several occasions, with some strong running by their backs and the No.8 in particular. The Diss defence had to be at its best to avoid conceding more points and debutant Corey made a big contribution in his first game. The tide turned again and it was the home team who dominated possession again for a sustained period, with scrum-half Leo marshalling his forwards well and ensuring quick ball to set the backs away. Again the pressure and patience paid off as the three-quarters moved the ball wide, cut back inside then moved wide once more to give Toby a short run to the line; the winger’s quick feet seeing him past the would-be tackler in a flash to score in the corner. 19-5.

Still Holt came knocking on the door, but were met by some determined Diss defence. One fairly typical scenario resulted in Diss’ 4th try.
The Holt forwards had secured good ball and their backs started to progress towards the Diss 22 when Harvey stopped them in their tracks with a bone-shaking tackle. Holt gathered the loose ball only for Harry to flatten the next Holt player and hack the ball forward. Harvey was back on his feet and gave chase… out-running the defender and showing good footballing skills to kick the ball over the try line and ground it. 24-5.

The Ref’s whistle sounded soon after to conclude what had been a very entertaining and closely-fought contest. No quarter had been asked for or given and the level of sportsmanship shown by all the players and supporters was superb yet again. Man of the match was Leo for his reading and control of the game as well as his fantastic tackle count.

Final result Diss 24 - 5 Holt.