Diss too Strong on the Day for Plucky Ipswich

Ipswich welcomed Diss to Humber Doucy Lane for a contest which promised to be very close between two well matched sides. Both sides had won their county plate competitions and both were a few players short of normal complements on the day due to injury and unavailability.

Diss started with a strong breeze at their backs and quickly exploited this to gain territory driving strongly deep into the Ipswich half but Ipswich defended strongly in the opening minutes to hold out the big Diss pack. Diss won a deep attacking lineout and drove on well before stout Ipswich defence held the ball up conceding a scrum 5, Diss won that cleanly and broke in the centre from quick first phase ball to open the scoring on 9 minutes, converted they were 7 points up. Ipswich started to gain some territory from the restart but on the quarter hour Diss won great turnover ball from a ruck to pass wide right and score on the right wing this was unconverted Ipswich were 12 down. Ipswich started to apply pressure into the wind through a series of rucks Eli Govindasami came close after a great pick up and go forcing a penalty close in, this led to a smart try from Jake Hosking to narrow the score to 5-12 on 19 minutes. The conversion attempt into the wind from Fred Bolton was just wide. It looked very much as if Ipswich would turn round with this narrow margin but just on the stroke of half time a strong breakaway runner cleared the Ipswich defence and ran on to score under the posts to make an easy conversion and a score of 5-19 at half time.

Ipswich started with a bang in the second half kicking on with the wind gaining a lineout and enabling Dantay Ward to leap over to score almost immediately. Fred Bolton’s straight conversion from the touchline was just short, but at 10-19 Ipswich seemed right back in the game. Ipswich attacked again on the left but a loose pass enabled Diss to kick through and breakaway again with a strong winger’s try. Ipswich attacked again immediately with Eli Govindansami, Dantay Ward and Nate Wilson all looking promising but Diss turned the ball over and drove on before Ipswich held the ball up over the line again before Diss pressure prevailed again leading to another converted try and a 10-31 leading margin for the visitors on 20 minutes of the second period. Ipswich weren’t finished kicking down and running on with the wind before releasing left winger Jack Cottrell to dive over with only 5 minutes on the clock and to score near the touchline. Fred Bolton’s conversion was sublime and Ipswich moved there score on to 17 before Diss broke again on the final whistle to post another converted try on the stroke of full time, the final score Ipswich 17 Diss 38.

It was a tough day for Ipswich but they worked hard and know that they can go one better against this opposition next month when they face them in the Eastern Counties competition.