Dis-jointed Saracens victorious

This week saw the Owls pay a visit to Bellrope lane, albeit in slender numbers. The Holt side could only muster 13 men, so Diss Players Joe Sides and Jon Trede donned a black shirt to make up the numbers. Never-the-less, the Holt side came out all guns blazing and from the kick off attacked hard. Within five minutes their efforts were rewarded as a couple of missed tackles by the Saracens allowed them to cross the line out wide, which was also converted. The Saracens then woke up a bit and the increased momentum put Stefan Coombes over the line for his first try of the game, with Axel Goymour converting. From the restart Holt pushed hard, and it was evident the Saracens weren’t playing to their usual form, with little communication and poor team work. The home side did pull it together a little to string together a few phases, putting George Baker over the line in his first game of the season, Goymour again converting. With Holt unable to field a full front row, the entire game was played with uncontested scrums, which took a lot away from Diss’ usual tactics. The home side were still a little frantic and lacked confidence, with knock-ons galore. The next score came from centre Ray Knapp after running a cutting inside line off the fly-half, Goymour narrowly missing the conversion. Holt responded well, scoring two tries in quick succession, converting one to put the scores level at 19 all. Jon Trede scoring one, much to the Diss players’ disapproval! The frustration was evident in the blue camp, and Skipper Ben Walker and old head Will Hemmant offered some advice to try and bring some composure to the Saracens game. Shortly before half time Jake Girdler touched the ball down after a series of efforts to make the line were stopped short or held up by solid Holt defence. Goymour missed this conversion to leave the score 24-19 at the break.

The home side came back after the break with a new tempo about their game and looked more dangerous from the restart. More phase play was being used, and all the squad seemed keen to take the ball on, Luke Bailey in particular making a lot of yards. A series of interchanges by the backs saw Chris Trede make a rapid break down the left wing to score, with Axel Goymour making short work of the conversion. Again Holt challenged hard, with several balls stolen against the head in line outs, as the Saracens struggled with the throw ins, having lost Richie Horne to a back injury early in the game. Holt defended very well and several more Diss attempts to cross the line were stopped. Joe Sides being particularly disruptive at the break down, winning Holt several turnovers against his own side! Late in the second half a well-controlled move by the Saracens back-line saw winger Stefan Coombes cross the line for the second time, with Goymour again converting. This left the score at the final whistle 38-19 and the Saracens highly frustrated with their performance, knowing they should have made so much more of the fixture.