Diss Rugby Club hoping first competitive home match in more than 18 months will lead to victory over South Woodham Ferrers

Mackenders will host Diss’ senior side in competitive rugby action for the first time since March 2020 tomorrow afternoon.

And head coach Nick Greenhall is confident his team will be able to put issues within the scrum during their opening pair of London 2 North East matches behind them for the visit of South Woodham Ferrers (3pm).

The unavailability of key players has resulted in the Blues struggling to hold down any significant possession during away defeats at Chelmsford and Stowmarket.

But with Ed Passmore and Pete Bray expected to return to the starting line-up this weekend, Greenhall feels it will be a much more coherent unit that takes to the field.

“We’ve been disappointed with the first two results and you can see why they haven’t gone our way,” he said.

“We haven’t been strong enough in the scrum and we’ve been pushed around quite easily. I must say that the boys have been very resilient and they’ve shown some real guts, but eventually the pressure tells.

“Against Stowmarket they had around 50 opportunities in possession, whereas we had 20 and they were mainly counter-attacks.

“It’s been very difficult, but Ed Passmore and Pete Bray will hopefully be back on Saturday and two players coming back into the front row will make such a difference.”

As well as looking to rack up their first victory of the season, Greenhall is also looking forward to seeing his side play in front of a home crowd.

An entertaining 32-29 victory over Romford & Gidea Park on March 7 of last year was the last time supporters were able to cheer Diss on – and Greenhall is keen for the players to put on a similar spectacle.

He said: “Everyone is really looking forward to it.

“It will be great to see everyone back. We’ve got two teams playing at home so it should be a good day.

“It will be fantastic to see friends back together and hopefully we can put on a show.”