Saracens earn a draw in the rain

This week saw the Saracens take on Fakenham in very damp conditions at Mackenders. The home side kicked off and chased hard, and manage to retain the ball. Will Hemmant was then caught in the crossfire by a flying leg from a Fakenham player tackling a Diss player, and left the field to recover for 5 minutes. It was evident from the first scrum that the away side had a hefty weight advantage, and the Diss side really struggled against this in the first half, even being pushed off their own ball at times. The Fakenham side were making good use of this clean ball from the scrum and attacking hard. Diss were defending well, until a lack of communication and a missed tackle left Fakenham with an overlap out-wide which they exploited on to get on the scoreboard first. They converted this to take a 7-0 lead. Diss responded well to this and challenged hard, but were frustrated not to cross the line. Shortly before half time Fakenham made good use of their scrum again, and another missed tackle let them cross the line for their second try, which was duly converted, to take them into the break with a 14-0 lead.

Diss came back out all guns blazing after the break, and a clean catch by Charlie Crotty took them straight up the field. A period of kicking tennis followed, and from a penalty Diss fly-half Will Edwards found touch deep inside the opposition 22. Jacob Page caught the ball cleanly to start a driving maul, and Will Hemmant fired the ball away to the backline who ran a very slick move to put fullback Matt Trede over the line out wide to put the home side on the score board. Arthur Goymour then stepped up to take the difficult kick, which he converted with ease. The home sides pack were now starting to capitalise on their superior fitness levels, and the front row combination of Charlie Crotty, Rich Horne and Karlton Gray were really controlling the scrums. Twice the scrum was even won against the head. Likewise in the lineouts Diss Jumpers Matt Cullum and Jacob Page were competing well, and stole several Fakenham throws. The middle of the half saw both teams’ tempers starting to rise, and composure started to slip, with various penalties being awarded to both sides. Matt Trede kicked one of Diss’ deep into the Fakenham 22, and comfortably found touch. Matt Cullum flicked the ball down to Will Hemmant from the lineout, who then started the back line off into the same manoeuvre as used for the first try, which, in a near mirror image, put Matt Trede over the line for his second try. Again Arthur Goymour made the conversion look easy as the ball sailed between the posts to bring the scores level with 15 minutes to go. The Saracens attacked with passion from the restart, with George Gooderham running well with the ball from number 8. Despite the away team starting to tire considerably, they defended diligently, to stop any further scores for the home side, leaving the score at full time 14-14, and the Saracens frustrated that they hadn’t played harder in the first half.