The Diss U11 rugby team will have an exciting day out at the Guinness Premiership Play-off Final at Twickenham in May.The boys, along with their Wymondham counterparts, will represent Northampton Saints in a competition before the play-off final.

The Diss U11 rugby team will have an exciting day out at the Guinness Premiership Play-off Final at Twickenham in May.

The boys, along with their Wymondham counterparts, will represent Northampton Saints in a competition before the play-off final.

They earned that honour for both reaching the final of the Land Rover Premiership Cup on Saturday, the game played before Northampton Saints' match against Newcastle Falcons on Saturday.

The Norfolk outfits were two of 19 clubs that descended on Franklin's Gardens, home of the Saints, from as far afield as Staffordshire, Buckinghamshire and across the east of England.

Wymondham, who conceded just the one try in the entire tournament, were deserved 15-5 winners over Diss in the final, and the teams received their prizes in front of the packed stadium from Saints stars Barry Everitt and Scott Gray.

'The boys were brilliant today, we had a scratch team and they were still terrific, I'm really proud of them' said Simon Burridge the Diss coach. 'We've had a brilliant day and thoroughly enjoyed it.'

The Diss squad comprised 14 youngsters and the question was would they be able to compete against much larger and better-funded clubs at this level? They answered in the best possible way, from the pool stage right through to the final.

Diss 15, Bedford 0

A good start from Diss saw the Bedford contingent's best team dispatched with ease. Diss made their intensions clear from kick-off and fought for every ball Sam Richards and his second-row partner Tony Brown, combined to give an excellent platform for the backs. The scrum unit worked as one and did not give an inch throughout the first encounter and this was to be a flavour of things to come. Hooker Roy Carter never missed his man in the line-outs and props Joe Hegarty and Angus McDaniel were their usual bullish selves. Strong rucking and running, by the forwards, saw the irrepressible Hegarty run in two tries, with Alex Leeder adding the third in a classic scrum-half move.

Diss 5, Rushden and Higham 0

A more difficult game against previous winners of this competition (at U9 level) saw Diss come through a tough encounter with a single score from Angus McDaniel, Ed Woolatt took over second-row duties as Brown had to retire through illness and the scrum held firm. On one of several Diss attacks, Leeder appeared to ground the ball over the line from a move from behind the dominant Diss scrum, only for the referee to adjudge the ball to have been held up. Good runs were made by Elliot Ghali and Tom Storey and a try-saving tackle from full-back Luke Burridge kept the opposition out.

Diss 5, Old Scouts 5

Another tight encounter saw Diss lead for most of the match after McDaniel forced his way past several opposition players. Diss spent the remainder of this match in the opposition half and should have won. Harvey Baker and Joe Boom had several runs and tackled strongly. Campbell Young and Finlay Pope also made noticeable contributions. Old Scouts scored in what proved their only incursion into Diss territory. Again Leeder had what appeared a perfectly good try disallowed in an identical move to the one in the previous game. The draw however was enough to see Diss through to the semi-final.

Diss 5, Olney 0

A strongly-contested game saw much movement of the ball and several good breaks by Diss. Olney, coached by an ex provincial player from South Africa won this competition last year (under 10's) so were not going to be a push over. Again teamwork was of the highest order and the boys defended well. Strong attacks were repelled on several occasions, with Storey now at full-back making a certain try-saving clearance. Diss had the upper hand in the end and Leeder scored the winning try with the last movement of the game. Diss were in the final.

Diss 5, Wymondham 15

The final turned out to be a stage too far. Wymondham run an elite squad and only allow their best players and prospects to join it, where as Diss give a game to any player wishing to join in. Diss were soon two tries down before Hegary forced his way over to score. Wymondam scored a further try but Diss did not give up and spent the rest of the game camped to the Wymondam line, just failing to score on four occasions.