UNBEATEN RUN COMES TO AN END

A disappointing result for Rochford as they gave third placed Diss a run for their money for most of this match but once again, fell foul of the Diss home factor.

The club have lost count of the times they have come so near to winning on this ground only to see it taken from their grasp.

Rochford came storming out in the first half and kept the home team pinned in their own half for most of the 40 minutes but were only able to come away with a 3 point Scott Horsburgh penalty for all their efforts.

This was the only score of the half and Rochford were confident that they could continue the pressure in the second session and add more points.

Diss had other ideas as they became more positive and cut down the error count to take the game to Rochford. They were awarded a penalty which was kicked to level the scores.

The wet conditions did not help either side and the game started to get bogged down by a number of scrums where Rochford showed their strength and power to keep pressure on Diss.

The boys in black attempted on a number of occasions to break the deadlock but either good Diss defence or errors by Rochford kept the score line the same going into the last quarter

The home team rallied and forced Rochford into some uncharacteristic basic errors and a touch of panic entered their game which Diss took advantage of and their powerful no.8 crashed through from a loose maul to beat a couple of tackles and charge for the line .

He was eventually caught but not before he grounded the ball for an important try which was converted to put Diss in front 10-3.

More attacking play by the Norfolk side gave them a penalty kick which missed and crucially allowed the visitors to come away with a useful losing bonus point.

There have been times when Rochford would have been happy with that as it is always difficult to get anything on a visit to this club.

However Rochford knew that this game was there for the taking but they gave a decent account of themselves and know they are still a good side which will keep getting better.

A shame that their unbeaten run has finished but it has built up confidence and teamwork which will be put to good use in the remaining hard games to come.