Holt v Diss (21.04.13)

The last game of the season. The last hurrah and a last minute fixture.
Thanks to Diss for traveling up to Holt for the second time this season. Diss RFC were hosting the u13s festival, so the u15s needed to be away and fortunately we got hold of them in time.

It looked like lovely weather conditions for a game of rugby, dry, warm with just a slight breeze. Conditions that suit Holt's fast style of rugby, however it was Diss that started the most offensive taking the game to Holt with good hands and strong play. Fortunately Holt soon picked up their game and countered a ruck with Theo picking up the ball and braking through the first tackle, offloading to Callum who had Jenks outside him and Alex Storey waiting in the wings to finish the move off, great support play with so many options. Ally converted from a tight angle and Holt were up by 7 points.

Titus holding the pose.

The next try wasn't long in coming, Theo winning the line out getting up high, (although not as high as he's going to get next year when we start lifting), the ball presented to Titus who passed to Ally and with the on-rushing Diss defence Ally did one of his trade mark side-steps to create a hole in the Diss line and was through to score. No conversion. Holt 12 - Diss 0.

Gerry mimes while Theo climbs.

Try number three came from a scrum won by a pretty dominant Holt pack in the first half, they were winning their put-ins and getting the better of the rucks. Great work in the front row by Gerry, Dean and George, supported by Ben and Tommy T in the second row. Titus took the ball from the won scrum and was off to the corner and was almost over the line himself but was just caught by the Diss defender, fortunately Jack B was on hand to take a simple a pass and score. No conversion. Holt 17 - Diss 0.

This reminds me, I need to give my car a wash.

The next try came straight from the pre-match warm up, where several penalty moves were worked on. Titus started the move, George working as the pivot and Theo taking the ball at speed and braking through the Diss defence who seemed reluctant to tackle him, scoring under the posts. No conversion.
Holt 22 - Diss 0.

Titus sets up the penalty move.

Just as Holt looked like they were going to run away with the game Diss got into the game, scoring two quick tries. One from a penalty awarded and the ball going out wide to their speedster Jordon, who looked like he was away until Callum made a really courageous attempt to chase him down, catching him on the line and all but saving the try. Great effort. The second Diss try came from a scrum won and again getting away to score in the corner. Half time Holt 22 - Diss 10.

Jordan getting away.

Well, almost getting away.

Almost saving a certain try. Great work by Callum.

The late tries by Diss at the end of the first half meant Holt needed to push on in the second half. Titus set the ball rolling from another penalty move, managing to get over the line with several players in blue hanging off him. This was converted to make it Holt 29 - Diss 10. Although the re-start was strongly won by Holt and the game taken back to the visitors it was Diss that profited, scoring wide with an overlap, they converted their try. Holt 29 - Diss 17. Holt started to get more and more penalties against them, after Diss had been the ones being constantly 'pinged' in the first half'.

And he's away...

Callum added to the score after Ally had made a great blind side run. As soon Callum was released he was away, sprinting down the wing to score in the corner. No conversion. Holt 34 - Diss 17. Diss almost immediately responded with a try scored by Henry from Fakenham, who had been drafted into the Diss team with another Fakenham player and one of the Holt u14s, Henry, to make up the numbers. Cheers guys. Holt 34 - Diss 22. Then Diss scored again, this one under the posts after retaining good possession. This was converted to make it Holt 34 - Diss 29.

Synchronised defending.

Scrum-half Titus waits for the forwards. Again.

It looked like Holt were beginning to tire, that combined with the hard ground and warm weather it was looking more and more like Diss were going to close the gap, often breaking out wide and looking very dangerous, only stopped by some very strong tackling in the midfield. It was from one of these Diss attacks that Holt managed to score the final try of the game, a kick through from Diss and an awkward bounce nearly caught Ally out but he managed to scramble to the ball, regain his footing on his 5 metre line and get the ball to Callum who tore away with just one man to beat, which he did, as Diss had committed all their players in attack. This was converted to make the final score of the final game Holt 41 - Diss 29.

A great fixture to conclude the u15s season and against a team that always give us a good game. Not only that, they're a nice bunch too. Thank you to William for supplying a couple of Fakenham players and Henry from the u14s. Well done everyone, look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the end of season presentations and then you can hang your boots up, until pre-season that is...

Man of the match: Dean. Super work all morning, really getting stuck in and making his physical presence known.

No turd awarded this week. Don't worry, there's always next season.

Guest photographer: Jo Storey. Top work, just a shame the battery died but more importantly there was no photographic evidence of Theo's try... Maybe there should have been a turd awarded after all.