Saracens errors prove costly

This week the Saracens faced Broadland on home turf, confident after last week’s victory away to Wymondham. The Saracens kicked off, but the kick by Goymour was a little strong and sailed straight in touch. The blue scrum then demonstrated their strength from the off, with a powerful scrummage. Broadland maintained possession and attacked with force, although the Saracens defence appeared to be solid. This tireless defence from the home side carried on for several minutes until one missed tackle saw the Broadland centre cross the line to score a try and take an early lead. This rattled cages in the blue camp, and the Saracens now attacked with tempo. The Saracens biggest problem seemed to be handling errors as time and time again dropped balls and knock-ons gave their possession away. After a series of phases involving backs and forwards alike, the Saracens found themselves camped in the Broadland 22, when Walter Hemmant at scrum half took control, and kept the forwards surging forwards with short pick and go’s; until at the opportune moment he spun the ball wide to fly half Ewan Lawton, who dodged round a defender and cut back inside to score by the posts, Adam Goymour conversion giving Diss a 7-5 lead.
From here it was a scrappy contest, with errors by both teams meaning the forwards were kept busy with a barrage of scrums, in which Diss appeared to have the upper hand, with props Edward Passmore and Andrew Langham-Service looking dominant. An infringement by the visitors gave Diss a Penalty within kicking distance in front of the posts, but unfortunately Goymour failed to capitalise on the opportunity, narrowly missing with the kick. The Saracens going into half time with just a 2 point margin.
The Saracens took the restart well through Jacob Page and instantly surged forwards, but again handling errors lost them possession. Replacements Scott Deacon and Chris Trede both made significant impacts, earning the Saracens a lot of territory. The home side were looking dominant, when a long pass in the centres was intercepted by the Broadland opposite number and the visitors ran in their second try. The conversion attempt fell short, giving them a 12-7 lead. Again the Saracens found themselves camped in the Broadland half, but frustrating errors kept them from the line. With 7 minutes to go, a series of phases by the home side looked very promising, when an infringement at the ruck saw the play taken back down field by a Broadland kick. But once again the Saracens attacked, looking hungry for victory, when they were awarded a scrum just outside the Broadland 22 in the final play of the game. However, the referee made a controversial decision when the Saracens’ engage resulted in the scrum collapsing, and awarded a penalty to the visiting side who promptly kicked the ball to touch to win 12-7, leaving the Saracens highly frustrated in the knowledge Broadlands only points came from their errors.