Diss thrashed 77-5 by Eton Manor to stay bottom of London 1 North table

Diss remain rooted to the foot of the London 1 North table after being thrashed 77-5 at mid-table outfit Eton Manor on Saturday.

Following the previous weekend’s outstanding 40-19 victory against Luton, Diss returned to reality with a thumping defeat at The New Wilderness.

Fielding a weakened and understrength side hardly helped the cause, and ultimately led to such a high score.

Throughout the first half Diss played with real spirit and, at times, threatened the Manor defensive formation.

Having succumbed to an early home side try, debutant Tommy Webster scored a superb individual try to draw the scores level at 5-5.

With the likes of Ben Walker, Dave Rackham, James Hayhoe, Jack Owen and Nick Yager all stepping up to the mark, Diss kept in touch throughout the first half.

Rackham made a huge impact in the tight, creating chaos from within the Manor scrummage.

Owen hit his lineout targets with regular accuracy, yet again solving an area of first phase possession that Diss have found difficult to achieve parity in throughout most of the season.

But the cohesive nature of a more settled Manor side took its toll in the final quarter, as the visitors’ defensive rear-guard tired and lost structure.

While results and player availability continues to impact heavily on the Mackenders outfit, no one can fault or deny the total commitment given on the field of play.

Dave Smith and his coaching team were certainly proud of all those who travelled to deepest Essex.

The bottom-placed side face a daunting home clash at Mackenders tomorrow with unbeaten leaders Rochford Hundred (2pm), who have won 16 out of 16 so far this season.

• Diss Under-15s recorded a comfortable 70-5 win against Crusaders to make it three wins out of three in the cup.

A dominant performance saw tries for Fred Potter, Finlay Martin, Lucas Dade-Ricketts, Joe Jermy, Bryce Cochrane, Stan Spurdens and Mofe Ben-Edigbe,
while Ben Waters was lethal with the boot.

• Diss Under-15s Vixens also put in a fantastic performance at the weekend.

They battled back from a three-try deficit to beat Cambridge 31-24 in the National Cup.

In a battle between two well-matched teams, Cambridge got off to the better start as they opened up leads of 17-0 and 24-12.

But Diss fought back with three unanswered tries to edge out their opponents.