Woodford 19 : 66 Diss - 11th March 2017

Three to go...

Diss travelled in confident mood, with only a couple of changes made from the previous week. John Laurie and Jamie Burroughs both returned to the team with Ali Abercrombie (unavailable) and the consistent Freddie Precious making way. Woodford have been strong at home all season, having only lost one game, so this potential banana skin would be a real challenge for boys from Mackenders.

Woodford enjoyed the early phases of the game and a series of mistakes from Diss resulted in a try after 2 mins by Woodford’s number 8 (0-5). As with a lot of away games this season, the cliché ‘Still sat on the bus’ sprung to mind again! However this time the slumber was short lived, a quick penalty from McClure and then, following good phase play, a try from Hipwell put Diss into the lead (8-5). Woodford continued to pressure Diss and a failed exit strategy gave them the opportunity to knock over a penalty (8-8). Diss played well off first phase all game and were soon back on top with a well-executed converted try from McClure (15-8). Diss were starting to dominate the game but continuous mistakes allowed Woodford to stay confident and remain in the game and they soon knocked over a second penalty (15-11). With the game beginning to settle, LeLievre spotted a gap behind the defence and with a wonderful chip over the top from Leeder, LeLievre fielded the ball to score unopposed Diss’ third try (22-11). After a further penalty from McClure (25-11), Diss produced the try of the match. After a solid lineout win, Hipwell gave a lovely switch to Burroughs who straightened through the defensive line, and in turn drew the last man to feed Wilby, on the inside, to score the bonus point try under the posts (32-11). Diss finished the half well but were unable to increase their tally.

Woodford started the second half in resurgent form and immediately put Diss under pressure, a penalty allowed Woodford to reduce the gap (32-14). Once again Diss responded well and a mazy run from Hipwell and offload to Laurie gave Diss their fifth try of the match (39-14). Woodfords scrum was strong all game and they used this as an opportunity to pressurise the Diss pack early in the second half. Continuous infringements by Diss gave the referee no option but to yellow card Richards and reduce Diss to 14. The extra man had an effect and Woodford scored their second try of the game (39-19). Diss decided to make changes and with the introduction of Passmore, Hudson and Hegarty, the Diss scrum was able to give some parity. The ability of Diss to see space and attack it from all areas of the pitch, and the confidence to offload in the tackle, meant that 20 mins into the second half the game really opened up. During this period, five turnovers resulted in five tries. Laurie scored the first with Hipwell, Beaird, Lelievre and Beaird again, completing the scores. The final score finished 66-19.

Diss RFC continue their push for promotion with this emphatic win over Woodford RFC. Overall Diss played with good tempo which Woodford struggled to cope with. Their ability to continually offload and quickly recycle the ball caused havoc all day for the home side and Diss left South Essex as worthy winners. With three games to go Diss need to continue pressing the accelerator and make sure the ‘hand brake’ doesn’t get applied.