Diss 36, Hammersmith & Fulham 7: Diss made an excellent start to life in London One North on Saturday when they recorded a comfortable win over their visitors from London.

In what would be labelled ideal conditions, Diss took to the field in an optimistic mood against a side who were promoted last season having completed recorded 22 wins out of 22.

This optimism was reflected in the way Diss took the game to Hammersmith from the outset, putting in a number of thumping tackles, leaving the visitors under no illusions as to the uphill task they would be facing.

It was Diss who broke the deadlock after 20 minutes with Aaron Bliss powering over for a try in the corner after some positive work by the pack.

Hammersmith tried to respond but were beaten back by a resilient Diss defence who did not panic.

They made the tackles count and began the second half confidently.

With Chris Craven going off, Diss had to juggle the pack, veteran Paul Cayley joining the back row. Within five minutes of starting Chris Beaird made a brilliant break from the halfway line, breaking two tackles from the lacklustre defence before handing the ball to Cayley who lunged over from five yards, Beaird converting.

With Tom Holt now confidently directing each attack on the Hammersmith defence, it wasn't long before a silky move involving Matt Richards, Ali Abercrombie, and John Llewellyn resulted in Hugh McLaren giving a well timed pass for Matthew Trede to score under the posts, Beaird again converting.

The Diss defence was superb in every phase, rehearsed and professional in its execution. To their credit, Hammersmith kept on pressuring the home side, but at each stage Diss kept knocking them back. It was after this sort of pressure from Hammersmith that Diss counter-attacked.

After a swift lineout ball Beaird showed no small amount of talent, swerving past a number of players before scoring under the posts and converting.

A superb winger's try from Fraser Hall completed the Diss scoring, Beaird converting, and it was something of a surprise that Hammersmith scored a consolation pushover try, with skipper Mark Blyghton taking the honours.

Diss know that the season will not be easy, but can certainlly take some confidence from this match into their local derby encounter with North Walsham at Mackenders on Saturday.