North Walsham Raiders' first trip to Thurston was marred by two injuries in the first 10 minutes, with Seb Roberts suffering a broken ankle and Ian Webster a severely cut finger.
Still only 14-15 adrift at the break they fought hard but Thurston took advantage of a tiring defence to run out deserved 41-14 winners in the Eastern Counties Shield.
Fakenham took a big step towards overall honours when they moved five points clear at the top with an emphatic 55-22 home victory over South champions Ipswich YM. It was their 16th straight win of the campaign.
After a walk-over in their first Plate fixture Norwich Union returned to action with a hard-fought 38-33 victory over visitors Colchester III that took them top of the division.
Matthew Cook, Ryan Day and Ben Bond-Webster all crossed for Union while they were also awarded three penalty tries. Lloyd Davis added one conversion. Diss Saracens lost 28-12 at Cottenham Renegades.
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