Diss U14's take the shield final at the Colchester RFC Festival

The Colchester Festival is organised into two competitions at the start and Diss were placed in the top group with sides we had never beaten or never played before. The first game was against a large imposing Colchester A side. It was to be a tough start and Colchester A scored on 5, 8 and 10 minutes to win 17- 0. It wasn't a game we were expected to win but we were content to hold them to score we did but knew we needed to up the work rate and not be defeated by the psychological challenge. Next up was Braintree who stole a march on us and got two early tries beating us 12- 0. The team were left feeling that they should have done much better against Braintree not knowing that they would get their chance in the shield final before the day was out. We faced Bury A in the next game and with stories circulating that they had recently beaten Colchester A in a friendly we knew this would be a bigger test than the Colchester A game. The challenge was set to demonstrate the intensity with which we can play and so it came to pass. With only 2 minutes played Diss were attacking in the Bury 22 the forwards mauling at pace before the ball was popped out on the blindside and into the hands of winger Finlay Martin who crashed through to score. What followed was a fantastic defensive display which stopped Bury on the front foot and didn't allow them to play as they would usually expect. At the end of the game Diss celebrated the 5-0 win like we had won the final. Bury are a side we had never beaten in any competition and it meant a lot to control the game in the way we did. Our last game in the pool stage was against Ipswich who managed an intercept try 5 minutes in which secured the win for them in a very closely fought game.
These results meant we played Ipswich YM to decide who would be in the shield final. Diss were still smarting form the close defeat in the last game and so started at a pace which was proving difficult for YM to cope with. YM offended in front of the posts and Ben Waters stepped up to score the penalty. Diss were straight into attack from receiving the kick off and Finlay Martin took the ball on the wing and ran on a typical strong run to score. A 10-0 Diss win.
The shield final was against Braintree who we had lost to earlier but with wins against Bury and Ipswich YM under their belt Diss were determined to play the game they know they can produce. The first 8 minutes of the game was a huge defensive effort with tackles being made accross the team but a particularly good performances by Tom Parks-Lewis and Finlay Martin. Having held Braintree back it was now who turned on the attack and Finlay Martin started off on another pacy run only to be called back from a certain try by the referees concern for a Braintree injury. From the restart scrum the ball went through the backs hands to Joe Jermy who scored under the posts. Diss were now having all the play and fed the ball to flying Finlay Martin who scored two further tries. All the tries were converted by Ben Waters. Diss were Shied winners 21-0.
Throughout the day a fantastic display against the best quality opposition and all were justly proud of the achievement.