Diss U13s win in style

Diss made the trip north to Norwich on a foggy November morning, looking forward to a good run-out after the previous week's cancelled fixture.

The fog lifted right on cue and the match kicked off in bright sunshine. Unfortunately for Diss, captain Dom Bell-Tye was injured in the very first play of the game, retrieving a perfectly-weighted kick-off from Aaron Frith but clattering into the back of one of the Norwich players in the process, his nose taking the brunt of the impact! With the presence of mind to secure and present the ball, Bell-Tye was forced to leave the field watching as his team-mates passed the ball through several pairs of hands, eventually feeding Harvey Newton on the wing to round the last defender and score in the corner.

Norwich competed well in the loose but were let down by some lack-lustre tackling, giving Diss the opportunity to run in several more tries during the half. Two of the Diss forwards in particular exploited this freedom to run, Harry Williamson and man-of-the-match Tyler Pursehouse, who was also strong and intelligent in the rucks and mauls.

In the second half Diss expanded their game into a more flowing affair, with some great link play between forwards and backs and the whole team showing the handling skills that they'd been working on in training. Several more tries resulted and Diss also demonstrated their defensive organisation by shutting out the Norwich attacks whether they were through the middle or out wide. Try scorers for Diss were Newton, Williamson and Pursehouse, along with Charlie Smith, Will Rapkin, Sam Geard, Sam Willett, Aaron Frith and Nathan Brand.

Despite a one-sided scoreline, Norwich continued to compete throughout the game, showing great determination and resolve to thwart several attacking plays with some much-improved tackling in the second half. Both coaching teams will have been pleased with much of what they saw from their players and identified a few areas to improve upon. Above all, it was match that was played in great spirit and kept the crowd entertained throughout.