Teamwork rules again

The more and more the boys are playing as a team, playing for each other, with renewed effort and determination. Diss are clearly a talented side and it took a very spirited performance to overcome them.

Both wings had a great game equally effective in defence as well as attack. On one occaion Stan ran down a Diss player after a 40m chase who would have surely scored and Billy chose route one when tackling snuffling out the threat posed by the Diss back line. Jon and Matt as usual made the hard yards centre field and both were rewarded with tries for their efforts. Milo wasn't as busy as he has been of late but made a couple of big hits on their strong runners. Ben F had a solid game particularly with the boot and managed to convert 3 out of 4 goals which is a great boost for the team as these games are won by smaller and smaller margins and the kicks take on an greater importance. James was deservedly MotM, totally dependable as the last line of defence, he coped well with the numerous long kicks which Diss sent his way in the second half but also getting his decisions right as to whether to run out with the ball or to kick.

The pack is on a roll at the moment. Though they were a little slow on Sunday to the break down at times, once there they worked very effectively to help seize the initiative back for the team, enabling Josh to get the ball out to the backs. The Diss captain was an excellent rucker and managed to turn over ball on a few occasions. But i am pleased to report that we again competed well at the breakdown and secured most of our ball and turned over some of theirs- but not as much as against Beccles.

The front row had their own ongoing battle much was fought verbally before the set - check out some of the pics on FB! To now have Jack A, Jack C, Konnor, Joey and Sam, as specialist front row players, to choose from is very useful. Evan had another rock solid game both in the line out and also rucking and mauling and is proving a huge asset to the team. Imagine how high we will get when we are lifting next year! The scrumaging proved a hottly contested area in which again Southwold were able to not only hold their own but, as the game progressed, dominate. Strong defence from Diss denied our joint MotM, Joe, on a couple of occasions yet his persistance paid off scoring two tries. It was also good team thinking to let him kick when a big hoof up field was need against the wind. We saw some powerful no nonsence tackling from Ben S, Joe and Jon on Sunday and this always rattles the opposition as well as boosting the team morale. Keep it up.

We now have at least eight very capable back row boys - Ben S, Joe, Jack FS, Felix, Tom, Morgan, Matt and of course and Jon. All are equally comfortably playing in the backs, all have good hands and all are fast around the park and in the opposition's faces.

Just like England, having a bench as good as we now have gives us a great advantage. This particularly showed on Sunday as when replacements were made the shape, effort and performance of the team remained constant.

Well done again boys.