Diss U14's - North Walsham 34 vs Diss 0

Diss U14's lost a hard fought match away at North Walsham 34 vs 0.

The scoreline did not reflect a significantly improved performance from the team. For much of the match they competed toe to toe, and for the first 15 mins, and last 10 mins were the better team. Simple errors allowed a number of soft trys which flattered Walsham. Equally it was hard not to be on the scoreboard, despite lots of play near the Walsham try line.

The team are taking on board some of the lessons from training with the result that they need to get more possession - this is the outcome (an the test) we are looking for. It requires;

1. better tighter play (great to see the lessons from training on 'pick and go' being used - much more to do, but delighted the boys are trying this and seeing the benefits ),
2. support play (the boys were better in this respect. Still much more to do, but significantly different. This is probably the biggest single point to get right),
3. rucking (much improved with a number of phases being strung together - because of the above),
4. better passing (more to do here when making decisions under pressure and retaining the ball - easy trys being conceded from panicked offloads)
5. and a better scrum (good progress despite being pushed back we won our share of ball).

It was also great to see lots of pressure being placed on the Walsham back line with a very fast Diss line getting in their faces resulting in turnover ball (again more possession).

For this match the team as a whole was 'man of the match' for the cohesive way in which they worked together and the attitude they showed. Aspects within this that are worthy of mention include the tenacity in the breakdown by Captain Charlie North, Kit Brodie, Jake Wolfe, Connor Fell and Aaron Locktich. There was a significant effort from Ryan Anozia across the whole of the game which made a huge difference, he keeps improving as a player. Harvey Davies at scumhalf delivered a first class performance with guile and aggression. Alex Allott really took the backline to Walsham both in line speed to be in their faces (resulting in turnovers) and also on the shoulders of teammates in rucks. A solid debut from Tom Morris (welcome to the team). Finally, Toby Groves as hooker was huge - winning the strike while our scrum was being pushed back giving us valuable ball. These are just a few snippets, but everyone played a part. However there is still a long way to go and I am even more convinced that support play - in all its forms - is the key that will deliver this.

The performance give hope to the boys and supporters and shows that they can compete, they have the ability. This is all about getting the basics right and developing as a team. As this comes together the results will follow.

Well done to all the players for listening and delivering the lessons on the pitch. If they keep doing this they will continue to improve and win matches.

Training will be on Tuesday (weather permitting) and on Sunday we have something a little bit unusual - a video training session. I recorded the match and will be playing back points from this with the team, and the coaches will draw out the key developments points so that the team can learn from this.

Peter Allott
March - 2019