A very disappointing result for the U14's in a match they should have won at a canter. Complacency, poor basics (tackling and passing) and playing as individuals rather than as a tight knit unit led to a second-half collapse. Perhaps it will be the wake-up call they need? Certainly, the team needs to take a long and hard look at themselves and decide how they want to move forward as not getting these aspects nailed will mean they will not progress.

With good passing, movement and rucking the team had total superiority in the first half. Ryan Anozia again demonstrated his power out of the scrum to score two trademark trys, and Peace Joshua had the pace to run in a first-half score. It was great to see how Aaron Locktich's kicking is improving including an impressive conversion from right on the touchline. At the end of the first half all was good.

However, a second-half implosion allowed West Norfolk to rally and beat Diss despite further trys from Peace Joshua and Jake Wolfe. Lazy tackling, much of it too high (that resulted in 2 yellow cards) did not put the opponents under pressure. At times Diss passing looked like something out of a bad basketball game - with no accuracy or intelligence it enabled West Norfolk to intercept twice and score each time. The desire to tackle was there, however it was simply too high and ineffective. The only consolation is that a Diss player did score the winning try...sadly it was when they were wearing a West Norfolk shirt (as we loaned them 2 of our players to make it 15 a side).

Taking a 'glass half full' view there were improvements in the back line who took on board lessons from last week's match to press harder and speed up the defensive line and get more angled on the attacking line. They need to keep doing this to make it more routine and have confidence that every one of their teamates goes together. We have seen how disruptive it is against us, we now need to implement it as part of the Diss style. Equally, there is the need for teamates to support the ball carrier with the first and second people securing the ruck rather than standing off hoping to get a pass when a teamate is tackled.

Tuesday's training will need to reset and focus on a couple of aspects to get things on a better path ahead of next week's match away to Ipswich which is the last before the important Cup match the following week vs North Walsham.

Peter Allott