Rochford 25 : 28 Diss - 10th September 2016

Diss opened their League campaign with a hard fought and ultimately deserved victory against a resilient and well drilled Rochford side. The opening salvos were dominated by the home side with Diss having to organise their defensive structures to the maximum. Michael Fuller, Jamie Burroughs and John Laurie held the side together at this stage. Rochford possess a back division with pace and guile and certainly stretched the visitors to the limit. Against the run of play, Chris Beaird scored the first of his three tries after retrieving a grubber kick from Sean McClure that opened up space for Beaird to sprint down the line to score the visitors first try. McClure converted allowing Diss to settle into a more cohesive pattern, having repelled the home sides’ early onslaught. On 26 minutes, Intelligent passing between forwards and backs set up a second Diss try for Steve Hipwell. Throughout the game Hipwell’s strong running and calming influence from the base of the scrum and in general open play proved a decisive factor overall. McClure again converted and Diss headed into the second quarter of the game on the front foot leading 14 nil. With minutes remaining in the half, Chris Beaird broke through again, crashing his way over to score his second try, again converted by McClure. Diss were now in total command and should have scored again following an outstanding break between McClure and Phil Lelievre. As the half came to its conclusion Rochford brought themselves back into the game with a well struck penalty. A 21-3 lead at half time was fully deserved and augered well for the second half.

As expected Rochford came out for the second half in a determined and aggressive mode. Unfortunately Diss also lost shape and a careless and error strewn period allowed the home side to muster up a real head of steam. Indecision on the Diss try line on 47 minutes gave Rochford an easy converted try that allowed the home side to phase together a series of clinical attacking moves ultimately leading to a superbly crafted try on 64 minutes that brought the home side to within two points of the Diss total. Diss rallied at this point and produced some fine attacking rugby of their own. With 7 minutes remaining clever inter- play between forwards and backs allowed Chris Beaird to yet again crash his way over for a third try, thus securing a bonus point win on day one of the League season. The drama however did not end here. An interception allowed Rochford to score a third try, thus bringing the scores to within 3 points. Driving play from Steve Hipwell and Kami Latu weathered the storm to secure a hard fought and pleasing victory. The return of Steve Hipwell and Chris Beaird to the Club certainly made a difference but Coaches, David Smith and Stuart Hudson will also have been pleased with the way the front five performed coupled with the sustained fitness levels of the side in general.