1st XV v Cantabrigian

Diss continued their positive start to the season with yet another convincing league victory at Mackenders. From the outset Diss produced a brand of attacking Rugby that had the home support purring with delight .On two minutes following attacking play led by fly half, Philip Le Leivre, veteran second row Paul Cayley found himself wide on the right with the Cantabs defence closing in. Cayley twisted and turned to excellent effect to open the scoring. Kieran Pask stepped up to convert. Diss now began to really express themselves across all areas of the field. On ten minutes, number eight John Laurie drove from the back of an attacking Diss scrum to score the home sides second try, again converted by Pask. With twenty-five minutes played, Diss were beginning to play with total authority thus allowing the hugely impressive Tim Groom the opportunity to rumble over for a third Diss try, Comprehensively converted yet again by Kieran Pask. Cantabs are a proud and competitive outfit and responded with a well taken try of their own on thirty five minutes. Completing a most satisfactory first half and securing an early bonus point when the prolific Sean McClure waltzed over from twenty- five metres. Pask converted to give Diss a 28-5 half time advantage.

Diss were unfortunately not able to maintain the momentum of the first half. That said, John Laurie did score his second try of the day following rather weak defensive work from the Cantabrigians back five. At this point the weather conditions changed and the game drifted into an error- strewn affair. Diss certainly lost focus and Cantabrigians scored two well-crafted tries due to the momentum created by their forwards. The game now stood at 35-17 and Diss needed to respond immediately. Following excellent work at the break down by Jon Trede and aggressive driving play from ‘Man of the match’ Matt Richards, Diss now found themselves attacking on the Cantabs twenty- two. After a series of close drives and following a miss directed pass, John Laurie retrieved the ball and drove over from ten metres to complete his hat trick and seal the victory. Overall, Diss played with total conviction producing a performance that allowed both the experienced and younger players in the team the opportunity to really express themselves. The best example of this being the outstanding performance of Will Hemmant at scrum half. Hemmant was a calming influence throughout the afternoon.