Initial signs were not good. As Holt players were falling out of various cars after over an hour’s journey Diss were already going through their warm-up drills, looking the part. After a quick assessment of where we were light Diss very kindly lent us three players.
In situations like this you can excuse the boys for not trying and letting their heads go down but this just wasn’t the case on Sunday. Straight from the start it was obvious that every one of the Holt players was up for the game, prepared to put their heart and soul into the match. Diss were well organised, full of ability with plenty of dangerous players but for the first quarter of the game Holt were giving as good as they got.
Diss eventually made the breakthrough, a simple move involving a quick off-load in the tackle and the blue shirted player was through the line. However Holt were not to be downbeat and came back almost immediately with the first of two deserved tries for Alex, who was playing further in field than he normally does, getting much more involved. The Holt scrum were winning all of their put-ins and a few bonus ones against the head, very commendable and a great effort by all the forwards. This gave the platform for Harrison to deliver a clean, quick ball to Ally who could then make the decision to go or distribute, this first try coming from the base of the scrum out through Ally, then Caz to Alex who scored to make it Diss 7 Holt 5.
From the kick-off Holt were straight back into Diss’ territory and a second try was scored by Alex, who got clean through the home team’s defence. All made possible by the support Holt gave each other to allow Alex to break through. Diss, however, soon came back with a well-worked try just before half-time to make it Diss 12 Holt 10. This game could go either way.
The second half continued to be a very competitive and combatitive affair. Diss changed their three players they had lent us, so more new faces and names to get used to. Several times it looked like Holt were going to add to their score, Jenks making several breaks through the middle and Alexander, Ben and Theo working very hard to break through the Diss defence. There were times when closer support could have really made these probing attacks more potent, players need to make the breaks, spot the holes but they need someone on their shoulder to off-load to as soon as they come into contact, far too many times the runner got isolated and the move broke down.
The penalty count was also creeping up against Holt, mostly for offside. Although the ref had stated at the beginning you can go for the scrum-half as soon as he has two hands on the ball, you need to come from behind the back foot to do so. Just a little too keen on occasion. Several players gained valuable minutes on the pitch. Jali, playing in probably his second game for Holt gave a really good account of himself, getting stuck in and looking like he could get away at any minute with his deceptive speed. Miles playing at fullback without his shorts (duly awarded the turd for forgetting them) put in some very strong tackles and managed to join in from full-back. Fin playing at hooker, was given license to rampage, not that he needs any encouragement, so he rampaged.
Diss scored their third try of the game after some very good defensive work by Holt but after trying to kick the ball away the home team managed to re-align quicker than Holt, only just but enough to find a gap on the far side and by using the full width of the pitch scored to make it Diss 17 Holt 10. The Diss coaches on my side of the pitch were getting nervous as they could see a victory slipping away and just when it looked like Holt were going to get that all important try and level the score, Diss managed to have one last effort from a line-out and try as Holt did to get the attacking players off the pitch, they squeezed a final try in to make it Diss 22 Holt 10.
A very good game and both sets of coaches were very pleased with how their teams had faired. The referee even made the comment of what a good game it was and that there were some very good players on show. Praise indeed.
Turd of the week – Miles. No shorts. No comment.
Man Of The Match – Harrison. Great scrum-half play under extreme pressure from the opposition.
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