Diss hit for six by magnificent Manor

Eton Manor travelled to Diss keen to continue their excellent start to the season. This was always a difficult away fixture; something Manor knew all too well having suffered a heavy defeat last season. Having put in a solid display last weekend, Manor knew they would have to raise their game again to quieten the home side’s loyal and vocal supporters.

And raise their game they did, putting in a display of powerful and aggressive rugby in the first twenty minutes that saw Diss blown away. Manor dominated the set piece and proved hungrier at the breakdown, often turning over possession and putting the home side under pressure with little territory or ball. Once in possession, Manor showed good patience during the opening encounters, keeping the ball for multiple phases.

The first try of the afternoon was scored by Alfie Hutcherson. After securing lineout ball near to their opponent’s line, a strong and controlled drive saw Manor power over the line. The conversion was missed, but the visitor’s intentions had been made clear.

From here Manor continued to dominate, totally dismantling the Diss front five at scrum time, an area of the game previous Diss teams had always excelled. This display of power was also accompanied by some excellent backs play, showing pace and precision when attacking their opponents. From one such attack, the excellent Chris Jones was released out wide to score in the corner. The conversion was again missed, but a score of 10-0 put the visitors in firm control.

Patient, phased, rugby saw Manor cross the line on two more occasions in the first half, with tries from Alex Hunter and a second for Alfie Hutcherson capping an excellent 40 minutes of rugby. All tries were scored out wide and so the conversions were missed, but the Diss players and supporters were clearly in shock, trailing 0-20 at half time, with Manor delighted to have secured the bonus point already.

The second half continued as the first had ended, with the home side struggling to play phased rugby. Diss rarely threatened to score and, looking for continuity, reverted to their pick and drive game. Manor were however as solid in defence as attack, with each drive repelled and the home side struggling to get a foothold in the game.

The second half, whilst not as explosive as the first, saw Manor retain a grip on proceedings. With the ball Manor were patient in the build-up and clinical in exploiting overlaps once the defence had been drawn in through strong forward play. Further tries by Chris Jones and the explosive Michael Eghan, one of which was converted by Max Murray, rounded off the scoring in what was the performance of the season for Eton Manor, winning 0-32.

Eton Manor are still a team developing and growing in confidence. This win was a result of the hard work being done on the training pitch, with competition for places making people perform at their best. Whilst previous results had been good, this was the best performance of the season so far; combining both forwards and backs play and maintaining the high standard throughout the majority of the match.

Next week sees Manor hosting league leaders Bury St Edmunds in what should be a great game of rugby. Despite being just behind Bury in the table, Manor know they will have to improve their performance further if they are to compete against a side which is still undefeated and have posted some very big scores so far this season.