Familiar story as Norwich bow out of RFU Intermediate Cup against Chiswick

Norwich's latest game followed a familiar pattern as they got themselves into a winning position and then squandered a hard fought lead.

Having led 17-10 at the interval they allowed Chiswick to storm back with 25 unanswered points, win two yellow cards not helping the Norwich cause.

The hosts started the game brightly and were rewarded after seven minutes when at a five-metre scrum they made a mess of Chiswick's put-in. The ball went loose and David Micklethwaite pounced and scored halfway out for JC Brown to convert.

It was a surprise when from what appeared to static possession Chiswick full-back Dave Hill cut back inside to go through a large hole in the home defence to score under the posts. Fly-half Simon Hallett added the easy conversion to level the score.

Norwich hit back straight away when centre Neil Dunleavy intercepted a stray Chiswick pass about 35 metres out to score halfway out. Brown missed the conversion. With half-time looming Norwich scored again. Micklethwaite put through a deft chip which went into the in-goal area where left wing Richie Rhodes got the touchdown. Again the conversion was missed. Just before half-time Hallett kicked a penalty for the visitors.

The second half started with Chiswick taking the initiative and Norwich resorting to some desperate defending and it was no surprise when the excellent referee Ian Rafferty produced a yellow card, flanker Si Darby being the recipient. Hallett sent over the penalty and with Norwich reduced to 14 players Chiswick were successful from a rolling maul with Rikkie Darroch getting the touchdown. Hallett could not manage the conversion but later converted a penalty to increase Chiswick's lead. Two further tries from Josh Noble and Tom Steer, both of which were converted by Hallett, wrapped the game up.