North Walsham Under 14s 19 :7 Diss Under 14s - 26th February 2017

On another glorious day for rugby, Diss knew that victory was essential to have any chance of competing in the final of the Norfolk Cup. However, it was North Walsham looking fluent and strong in all aspects of the early exchanges and it took some resolute defending that enabled Diss the to get a foothold in the game. The teams were well matched, with North Walsham initially strong in the scrums, but Diss becoming more dominant as the half progressed. As half time approached, a superbly timed interception by Dom Bell-Tye saw him race 50 metres towards the tryline. Terrific defence saw him held up over the line. From the resultant 5m scrum, Diss continued to press and a couple of phases later Tyler Pursehouse barged his way over for what seemed like the opening score with the last play of the half. But much to Diss' disappointment, one of the Walsham defenders managed to get a hand under the ball by the time the ref was able to check the grounding. (HT 0 – 0).

Diss had thrown the proverbial kitchen sink at the Walsham line in the latter stages of the first half and it was the home side who started the second more strongly. A 5m penalty was passed fluently along the line for a try in the corner and from a similar position, a long pass saw the Walsham centre crash through some weak tackles for a converted try (12 – 0). Despite some good endeavour, Diss found it difficult to gain much ground against a resolute Walsham defence who won a number of turnovers by holding up the ball carrier in the tackle. From one of these, a good combination between the home team’s forwards and backs saw them extend their lead with a well converted try in the corner. To their credit Diss continued to press and with two minutes left a 5m scrum saw Harry Williamson crash over beneath the posts; Aaron Frith converted (19 – 7). Another surging run by Pursehouse briefly raised hopes of a miracle comeback, but it was not to be. Full time 19 - 7.