Tough win for Southwold vs Diss

SOUTHWOLD U14’s 17 vs DISS U15’s 12

After previous encounters with Diss, Southwold knew they would be in for a tough fixture this weekend. Southwold turned up at the Common to see a large Diss squad warming up with zest. A few positional changes for Wold saw Callum at scrum half, with Jake at fly. Southwold started quickly, passing the ball down the line to attack at pace and running penalties at the Diss defence. The first real attack came from good pressure in the forwards when Jacob B and Alex disrupted the Diss ball, and their defensive kick bounced nicely to Darius. His strong run down the left finally stopped when tackled into touch by 2 covering defenders. Some powerful tackling from Jake and Connor, ensured the Diss attacks were limited.

The line out was working well with Ellis and Innes winning good ball, and the scrum was again going well against larger players. Jacob B took high ball well and made good ground every time.The game swept from left to right and Wold seemed to create the overlap, but indecision allowed the Diss players to snuffle out the attack. But Southwold were not done and a fine run from Olly saw him driven over with the line by his supporting players to score for the first unconverted try.

Diss really came back at Southwold and the defensive abilities of the Wold team were put to the test. Time and time again Diss attacked but Wold infringed repeatedly and were soon warned by the referee that the next would see yellow! Unfortunately Cairns then ‘took one for the team’ as he was deemed to infringe and was sin binned accordingly. With a man down Diss powered their way through the defence and scored a fine try, converted well from the tight angle. Half time and Diss were 7-5 up.

Coach’s gave their words of encouragement at half time and hoped for a better performance from all in the second half.

The game was fairly even for the first stages of the half, with some fine running in the forwards from Jens, Olly and Alex. Callum was getting quick ball to Jake who in turn allowed the centre partnership of Jacob E and Connor to run at their opposite players. Wold then re-took the lead after some fine work down the left, and Callum fed Darius down the blindside. His strong run saw him beat 3 defenders to score an unconverted try.

Yet again Diss came right back at Southwold, and made their way down towards the Wold 22. Yet more infringements saw another penalty awarded, and from a quick tap the Diss player ran at the line with the Southwold players still retreating and scored another well deserved try to take the lead again. Southwold knew they were in a game now and were desperate not to lose this game. Innes then had to leave the field injured, seeing Ellis return. Olly went into some scrums at hooker and won ball against the feed, and Zak entered the game to gain some more game time after injury.

Jake’s long kick downfield almost led to a turnover ball, as good chasing by Darius and Connor only resulted in a penalty. Keiran had another fine game at full back and returned ball well when in difficulty by stepping the tacklers. Woody and Jacob E attacked down the right flank, a good chip through nearly paying off. But it was a well worked try that secured the win. Good forward play from the front row of Jens, Cairns and Tim allowed the ball to be used quickly at the back of the scrum. Some fine passing through the players led to Connor breaking his tackle and then side stepping to score under the posts for a self converted try. With only minutes to go, Southwold defended with gusto until the final whistle.

A real close game this week, with all players playing their part on the pitch. Just need to stop giving away the penalties.

Man of Match : Olly
Iron Man : Jake