South Woodham Ferrers 20 : 22 Diss - 18th February 2017

A contest befitting the form sides in the League, resulted in a wonderful game of rugby, where no quarter was given but the true spirit of the game manifested itself throughout the afternoon. Diss immediately pressurised the home side, producing a style of play that stretched the Woodham defence to the extreme. Off-loading with consummate ease close to the breakdown enabled John Laurie to feed Steve Hipwell on the Woodham try line. Kami Latu, a dangerous presence all afternoon eventually forced his way over. Sean McClure stepped up to convert. Producing a level of continuity and cohesion not seen so far this season, Diss completely tore the home side apart across all areas of the field. Woodham did reduce the deficit briefly following a Diss infringement at a ruck but this had no effect on the attacking prowess being developed by the League leaders. Sean McClure increased the lead with a well struck penalty to set up a second quarter of relentless pressure. On 20 minutes, following sustained phases of ball retention between the forwards, Matt Richards crashed over from close range. McClure again converting to give the visitors a 17-6 lead. Warren Wilby and Jamie Burroughs were now relishing the opportunities to attack through the midfield. One such attack allowed Burroughs to send Wilby through a gap thus creating a scoring opportunity for Sean McClure. South Woodham at this stage had no answer to the pace of the game and did well to survive until the half time whistle. That said, the home side had shown enough in the first half to suggest that at some stage they would enjoy a level of attacking options themselves.

South Woodham totally changed their game plan from the start of the second half. Rather than trying to play an expansive game they used their loose forwards to drive closer to the rucks and mauls thus putting Diss on the back foot. The Diss defensive structures stood firm from this onslaught until John Laurie was sent to the Sin Bin for a high tackle. Eventually pressure and a lack of numbers told with Woodham scoring a converted try out wide. The momentum had changed and Diss now had to dig deep to repel the sustained pressure they found themselves under. The Diss eight were also not in control in the scrummage and following a sustained series of attacking scrums, Woodham were awarded a penalty try. With the score at 22-20 to Diss, the game was now finely balanced. Diss did rally somewhat in the final quarter to relieve the pressure. McClure missed a relatively simple penalty that would have given the visitors more breathing space. As both side fought tooth and nail to secure dominance a final twist brought the game to its conclusion. Woodham were awarded a penalty on half way exactly at full time. Unable to kick to touch they decided to go for goal to win the game rather than run the penalty. The penalty missed and Diss had taken the spoils. The entire Diss team stepped up to the mark defensively in the second half. Without doubt the two best teams in the League this year produced the game of the season.

Report by Paul Cochrane