Penalty count proves costly for Saracens

The Saracens travelled to Beccles for their Woodfordes bowl completion semi-final on Saturday. Owing to various ailments, un-availabilities and first team call ups the Saracens fielded a very different side to recent weeks, but nevertheless they set off with all guns blazing. The visiting side attacked hard from the kick off, and within 5 minutes a break from winger Kieran Pask saw second row Andy McAllister cross the line for the first score of the game with Asif Goymour converting. Beccles attacked hard in response, but solid Diss defence kept them at bay. Regaining possession the Saracens again looked dangerous, with many phases being played. Scrum half Seb Goodge and returning fly-half Will Edwards were orchestrating play well, and at around 15 minutes in Outside Centre Stefan Coombes smashed through the Beccles Defence to score Saracens second try, with Asif Goymour again converting. The Diss composure started to slip a little now, and a penalty conceded in front of the posts was kicked, putting Beccles on the score sheet after 18 minutes. Shortly after this the weightier Beccles pack made short work of the Diss 8 at the scrum to provided their back line with a solid platform to play off, and they duly ran in a try out wide, proving too much for the kicker. This started to fire things up in the Blue camp once again, and hooker Richie Horne set the precedent, smashing through the home sides defence to make a barnstorming 40 yard break, with a stylish off-load to returning Prop Ed Passmore in close support. Diss failed to capitalise on this territory, and on the stroke of half time, an unconverted break-away try by Beccles left the Saracens with a 1 point lead.
The second half proved to be a very scrappy affair, and the home side were showing great determination, with backs and forwards alike attacking hard. The Diss side were struggling to defend this at times, and infringements started to creep in at the break down, with the penalty count starting to rise. The home side took their first opportunity at goal after 15 minutes, successfully securing the lead for the first time; 16-14. Again they attacked hard, and 5 minutes later they crossed the line, their now in-form kicker converting easily; 23-14. Diss were unlucky with the bounce several times, with both Goodge and Edwards kicking for territory for the ball to roll dead, which proved costly. More silly penalties were conceded, and the Beccles kicker steadily punished the Saracens, kicking 3 out of 3 in the last 20 minutes, leaving the score at 32-14. By this point Saracens super-sub Benny Goodman was insistent he wanted to play no part in this defeat, and kept his tracksuit on. However, Diss made a last ditch resurgence in the dying moments of the game, and a series of interchanges saw number 8 Junior Horne power over the line, with Goodge converting, to leave the final score 32-21, and Diss’ efforts just too little too late.