Back in November, Brentwood lost at home to Diss 7-24 after a hard game which followed a strong opening to the current season. The away fixture at Hackenders Ground thus promised to be a tough affair especially after the recent debacle against Bury St Edmunds.

With John Beith unavailable and captain Tom King injured, coach Steve Killington had to juggle again with his starting line up this week. Back into the centre came regulars Adam Thomas and Jon Wylie. Anthony Sherwood returned to the front row and openside flanker Sam Powell came in for his first game.

A large crowd of 400 people, many of whom had lunched in their spanking new clubhouse, saw Diss kick-off on a bright sunny afternoon.

At the kick-off, the first scrum saw Brentwood penalised for early pushing enabling Diss to grab a 3-0 lead. The referee continued to penalise the powerful Brentwood pack throughout the match leading to total frustration from the visitors.

The first quarter saw a powerful display from Brentwood who were much improved on previous performances. A well coordinated move involving both forwards and backs down the blindside was rewarded with a penalty. Quickly taken by full-back Dan Whitehead, the move split open the Diss defence for Charlie Chambers to touch down for the try. Whitehead missed the difficult conversion but the visitors were deservedly ahead 5-3.

The game continued to lack any rhythm by both sides. A missed long range penalty by Whitehead was followed by a bad foul on Thomas which went unpunished. Prop Sherwood, on his return, was making his presence felt with some hard charges into the Diss defence.

Diss were also now getting into the game and were awarded two penalties, both of which were well missed by the Diss full-back who continued to have a poor afternoon.

At the interval, Brentwood were ahead 5-3, mainly due to the pack who slightly edged their opponents overall. In the tight, poor refereeing had reduced the value of the visitor’s scrum. In the line outs, the outstanding catching of absentee John Beith was being sorely missed.

The second half again started promisingly for Brentwood with the pack, led by Sherwood’s determination, taking the game to their opponents.

However, a freak bounce of the ball changed the pattern of the game. Against the run of play, an aimless long kick out of defence by Diss saw the ball bounce at right angles away from the Brentwood defence into the hands of the home side’s attack for an easy try under the posts. The conversion missed, Diss were ahead 8-5.

Confidence returned to the Diss side as the Brentwood pack wilted under the referee’s cosh. The visitors brought on Terry Snooks and Aeron Stanier in place of Steve Killington and George Amato. A period of intense Diss pressure was well repulsed by the visitor’s defence.

However, hooker Snooks was alleged to have gone over the top and yellow-carded. Down to fourteen men, defence of the Brentwood line proved too difficult as Diss found a gap to score their second unconverted try.

With only minutes left, Snooks returned to the fray and a Whitehead penalty secured a losing bonus point for Brentwood with the final score 13-8 to Diss.

Worthy of a draw on the play, Brentwood’s commitment could not be faulted this week with their defence truly awesome. Man of the match was debutee flanker Sam Powell with prop Anthony Sherwood a close second.

Brentwood now have 51 points with three games remaining. They jump two places in the league to seventh place after heavy defeats this week for Ruislip and Old Colfeians.

Team: Northall, Sherwood, Bevans-Royston (J), Woodcock (capt), Killington, Metcalfe, Amato (B), Powell, Green, Chambers, Smith (C), Thomas, Wylie, Amato (G), and Whitehead.

Next week’s 1st XV match is at home against North Walsham (ko 3.00pm).