North Walsham 22 - 0 Diss

National League 3London & Southeast Division
North Walsham 22 – 0 Diss
Saturday 19th December 2009

On a freezing afternoon, with a pitch that was borderline playable, Diss were well beaten by a North Walsham who were all clearly up for this local derby, while Diss were still coming to terms with having to play and the added distraction of transport problems.

When we awoke on Saturday morning to the weather and ground conditions, I think that everybody fully expected the fixture to be cancelled, but it soon came apparent that North Walsham did not want this match to be cancelled. We all turned up at Scottow to a layer of snow on the pitch, and though the ground did take a stud, it was obvious that conditions were only going to get worse as the sun went down and the next freeze began.

Diss had to make changes as Andy Thorpe was waiting for his 1st child to be born, and Semi Roccotovitovi was unable to get up from Colchester, so Alex Kelsall and Steve MacQueen returned on the wing, with Damien Riley, Rhuan Jones, and Greg Gaughin on the subs bench.

Right from the kick off it was the usual story of all Diss pressure, but despite repeated drive from the pack they were unable to cross the Walsham line, and to make matters worse with a flowing move through the backs Walsham scored with their first attack of the game. Back again came Diss, and despite playing against 14 men for 20 minutes, they were not able to put any points on the board. With 5 minutes of the 1st half to go Mike Fuller was yellow carded and Walsham were able to mount another attack and score from a catch and drive from the line out.
H.T 10-0

The second half was virtually all attacking play by Walsham and defence by Diss, with a push over try from the scrum after the carding of Ali Butler, and another great move through the backs to set up the final score of 22-0.

Rhuan Jones replaced Pete Chartier, Greg Gaughin replaced Chris Howard and Damien Riley replaced Andy Horne but nobody could alter the play or the result.

North Walsham out played and out thought us on the day, and we will have to break our mental block about them before next season’s encounters.

The Saracens won their match 20 – 10 against Walsham 2nds, despite only turning up 15 minutes before kick off due to mechanical problems with the Diss team bus.

The entire club hope that by the time this report is published, that Andy Thorpe is a proud father. We wish them all the best.