Diss U14 battled hard to retain the Norfolk Cup, beating Wymondham away from home by one converted try to nil. Diss crossed the opposition line on three other occasions and were unlucky not to post a bigger score, being adjudged to have not grounded the ball twice and spilling the ball on another occasion.

Diss U14 battled hard to retain the Norfolk Cup, beating Wymondham away from home by one converted try to nil.

Diss crossed the opposition line on three other occasions and were unlucky not to post a bigger score, being adjudged to have not grounded the ball twice and spilling the ball on another occasion.

After weathering a 10 minute onslaught by Wymondham in the opening 10 minutes, with Frazer Baron and Pete Grey putting in ferocious tackles, Diss absorbed the pressure and started to exert control.

A well-directed kick by Jonty Rawcliffe to the left corner was picked up by a rampaging Kieran Baines who was just bundled in to touch before he crossed the line.

The Diss pack with their front row of Surjay Rughani, James Shaw, and Lawrence Page scrapped feistily against their bigger counterparts and Harry Purves was ever-present at the breakdown, together with Matt Warren, stealing possession countless times, with the latter winning several penalties through his shrewd exposition of art of the open-side flanker.

After several assaults on the Wymondham whitewash Diss were awarded a penalty five metres out which was tapped to Will Owen who blasted through the defence to ground the ball next to the posts; Rawcliffe stroked over the conversion.

Harry Youngson came close to scoring as Diss sought to press home their advantage and the visitors put together a string of backline moves orchestrated by half-backs Oli Tomson and Jack Scott, with full-back Jack Pearson joining the line and winning a penalty after following up a chip over the Wymondham defence.

Diss went in to the interval with their tails up and after the re-start the greater mobility of their forwards started to tell as they pulled their opponents around the field.

Always struggling in the scrums on a wet pitch against a greater combined mass, Diss outmanoeuvred their opponents in broken play, crossing the Wymondham line twice in this half: once when James Child cut inside on a great line only to be held up and again when Matt Warren was driven over by Will Owen but was again adjudged to have been held up.

Fresh legs in the form of Tom Beacomb, Harry Croft, Joe Seaman, and Ben Evans bolstered the Diss defences to withstand a late rally by Wymondham, getting close to the Diss line in a last attempt to level the scores.

This scrappy encounter was won more emphatically by Diss than the scoreline suggests and takes them into their West Country tour on a high.