Saracens achieve league topping goal

The Saracens travelled to Sprowston for the final game of their league campaign, needing at least 1 point to remain top of the table. From the kick off the Norwich union side attacked hard, much to many of the Saracens team’s surprise, and within 5 minutes the Diss team found themselves defending their own try line. The defence remained solid and eventually the Saracens regained possession, and battled back into their own half. There was a long passage of alternating defence and attack by both teams, but the Saracens efforts up front were somewhat hampered by the Norwich side declaring un-contested scrums from the kick off. After 25 minutes Diss were awarded a penalty, which Captain Pete Chartier opted to kick himself with Adolf Goymour away, but it fell just short. 3 minutes later Diss conceded a penalty for diving over the ruck, and Union also opted to kick, and were successful. Within 5 minutes Diss were awarded a penalty for a similar infringement, this time Chartier was successful, bringing the scores level 3-3. The home side’s composure was starting to slip now as their hefty forward pack started to tire, and at 35 mins another penalty was conceded, which Chartier again turned into another 3 points. The Saracens attacked hard from the restart, and a series of phases seeing backs and forwards alike all running well with the ball, and it was a well-timed pass to pace man Pete Bray that saw him crash through the union centres to score the first try of the game, Chartier narrowly missing the conversion. Again the Saracens attacked hard from the restart, and this time it was Chris Trede who found himself with ball in hand and a gap in the defence in front of him, which he sped through crossing the half way, with Matt Cullum in support who crossed the line for Diss’ second try. Chartier converted to leave the score 18-3 at the break.
The Saracens started the second half with a bit more gusto, and looked more structured in attack. The forwards were controlling the break down well now, with both stand in novice Hooker Chris Crunchy Craven and lock John Alexander looking promising. The home side weren’t for being walked over though, and defended well, holding off the Diss attack for twenty minutes, until Chartier again converted a penalty into another 3 points. Diss Prop Karlton Gray took a dislike to a late hit by one of the union defence, and was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes for retaliation. Matt Cullum caught the restart well, and started the next blue attack, which saw a series of phases find pace man Pete Bray on the wing, from where he ran over half the pitch bouncing or handing off 8 of the Norwich union defenders, whilst dancing his way along the touchline to score the try of the season in the corner. But as Chartier lined up to convert, the sin-binned Gray disagreed with the linesman, saying his fellow prop had stepped in touch, and the referee duly awarded a lineout to the home side. 10 minutes later the Saracens found themselves camped in the Union 22, and eventually it was centre Jake Girdler that broke through the defence to score under the posts, Chartier easily converting. From here it was just a question of winding down the clock, the Saracens still looking promising though, with an attempted cross field kick by Karlton Gray not quite coming to fruition! The final whistle blew to give the Saracens a 28-3 victory and the Eastern Counties 2 North League topped. April will see the Saracens in a play-off for promotion to Eastern Counties 1.