North Walsham got back to winning ways with an authoritative display in their 32-7 win over Amersham & Chiltern at Scottow.
London 1N
North Walsham got back to winning ways with an authoritative display in their 32-7 win over Amersham & Chiltern at Scottow.
Johnny Marsters' side put last weekend's defeat to Harpenden behind them as they made a fast start with a rolling maul prompting the first score of the afternoon with Than Sikorski going over although Matt Hodgson missed the conversion.
Chiltern continued to defend well but there was little they could do when Jim Riley finished off in the corner after another rolling maul - Hodgson missed the extras.
Hodgson made no mistake however with the conversion when winger Jon Younie went over to make it 17-0 and he was instrumental in the fourth try before half-time when his booming chip evaded the defence, before he caught it himself and fed Will Smart who went in under the posts. Hodgson converted.
Chiltern got on the scoreboard early in the second period when Blake went over but Hodgson scored a penalty before Riley powered over for his second try to make it 32-7.
To their enormous credit, Chiltern played practically all of the last period in the Vikings' half. And to the credit of the North Walsham defence, despite territorial superiority, there was no further scoring.
Johnny Marsters was delighted with his team's response to last week: the five tries, the staunch defence and the intelligent game management. He was delighted to see Matt Hodgson back, and suggested that when James Knight - representing the Vikings for the 150th time - plays well the team plays well.
London 2NE
Norwich ground out a bonus point victory at bottom side Epping Upper Clacton with the last play of the game as they preserved their five-point lead at the top of the table.
The afternoon started well enough when Chris Parrott put in a delightful kick into the corner and Norwich stole the lineout, set up a drive and Richie Ruddick, at the back, scored. Theo Elliott converted.
Norwich found looking after the greasy ball, in the mud, difficult and rarely put anything more than a couple of phases together. With Jack Walsh sent to the bin, Norwich upped the tempo and from a penalty, Elliott added three points.
With errors and poor execution causing moves to break down, another score before half time seemed unlikely, and so it proved to be with the visitors going in 0-10 up at the break, having weathered some strong running from the Epping forwards.
Elliott added a penalty early in the second half before the hosts were reduced to 14 men for a trip. Norwich made the extra man tell as Dave Micklethwaite broke through a gap before popping to Chris Parrott, who strolled in under the posts. Elliott added the conversion.
Laurence Austin then got in the act before Rob Micklethwaite touched down for the try, which confirmed the bonus point.
Southwold produced an outstanding comeback to take a 27-20 victory at home to Stowmarket.
There was only one team in it in the first half as the visitors stormed into a 17-0 lead.
Wold's front row was rearranged with Chris Aldous moving from prop to hooker and young Henry Dalton coming on as prop. It was a game changing decision and the extra weight in the front row gave the Wold scrum an advantage as they began to more than hold their own from that moment on.
Cemil Duruk went in by the corner flag before the break and it was 17-8 shortly after the restart thanks to Luke Wade's penalty.
With the wind in their sails Southwold reduced the arrears further when Josh Wallis went over to make it 17-13.
The crowd were quietened for a brief moment however when Stow increased their lead by three points with a penalty from in front of the posts, for in at the side, but then came the pure magic of the last quarter of an hour.
From the restart after the Stow penalty kick, Wold stormed right down in the Stow 22 and were awarded a penalty almost in front of the posts. Ollie Carlstroem took matters in to his own hands with a quick tap and got nearly to the line before offloading to Zak Loader who bludgeoned his way over for a great try under the posts and with the conversion by Wade a formality the scores were now level at 20-20.
Wallis then took centre stage with some fantastic footwork, latching on to Ollie Carlstroem's punt forward, as he nursed the ball over the line with his feet before gleefully touching down. Wade smashed the conversion and Southwold had completed the comeback.
Diss took the local bragging rights, beating Holt 36-18 at home in an enduring contest.
An early penalty gave Holt the advantage but Will Waddingham's try reasserted an element of control for Diss and Jake Girdler extended their advantage.
A series of off-loads from the Diss forwards sent Chris Beaird's back line passing swiftly through the Holt 22, eventually sending Shaun Blythe through to score the try of the game. A well worked try out wide on the left got Holt back into the game and they scored again early in the second period.
A series of drives into the Holt half led by Chris Kent and John Bergin eventually sent Chris Beaird over from close range to re-establish a Diss lead as the game entered the final quarter.
Yet again Diss lost possession whilst trying to play an expansive game, giving Holt the chance to score a further try from a driving maul. With the deficit now being only six points the game could have gone any way.
The entire back five began to create space around the fringes of the breakdown eventually sending Ollie Campbell over in the corner. Jake Girdler completed an outstanding game scoring a final try to give Diss a deserved victory if rather flattering one on the scoreboard.
London 3EC
Fakenham went down to a 27-14 defeat at Ipswich YM. Murray Tindall gave the visitors the perfect start with Lloyd Marshall adding the extras but Ipswich responded well with an unconverted try of their own.
Jordii Walker scored an excellent try to make it 14-5 to Fakenham but Ipswich reduced that lead to two points before half-time with another score. A penalty put Ipswich in front and two further tries gave the Suffolk side victory.
Beccles eased to a 34-5 win over Thetford whilst West Norfolk cruised to a 36-7 success at home to Woodbridge.
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