Diss 10 - 24 Brentwood - 11th January '14

Diss continue to find life in London One demanding and difficult. Brentwood are always an aggressive and forward dominating side, who like to assert themselves through a solid scrummage and efficient rolling maul.

The early exchanges found Diss in the ascendancy and pressurising the Brentwood 22. Diss now put together a number a direct phases of play and should have scored in the left hand corner. Brentwood were penalised at regular intervals for offences at the breakdown and were lucky not to lose a player to the sin bin. Unfortunately an early penalty attempt went wide and Brentwood responded by scoring a well taken try out on the wide.

Diss were able to dominate the forward exchanges and the score remained at 5-0 until very close to half time. With a trailing wind supporting Brentwood, the Diss coaches would have been more than happy to reach half time at 5-0 but unfortunately a lack of defensive discipline cost Diss. Brentwood were able to score from a rolling maul and convert the try to lead 12-0 at the interval.

Whilst trailing the game and having to play catch up. Diss started the second half in fine form and immediately responded to Simon Hill’s half time talk. Having only just returned from New Zealand late in the week, John Laurie was now have an impact on the momentum of the game and scored a wonderful individual try, that was converted by Sebastian Goodge. Diss now produced there best rugby of the game and following driving play through the back row and Fraser Hall in the Centre, Sebastian Goodge was able to slot a further penalty to bring the scores to 10-12 .

The atmosphere around the game had changed and many Diss folk now believed that an important victory could be secured. Unfortunately due to a some unknown reason Diss lost complete focus and drifted out of the game, allowing Brentwood to secure a deserved victory in the final quarter of the game. Diss gave away too many penalties and were lucky themselves not to find a player sin binned for repeated offences. A disappointing end to a game that promised so much. The away game at Old Haberdashers next week could now become the defining moment of the Diss season.