Mersea Island 29 Broadland-Gt Yarmouth 8

Broadland made the long trip to Mersea Island last weekend, and despite a battling performance could not convert opportunities into scores.

Mersea started with intent, and pushed Broadland hard in the early minutes, culminating in a converted try. Broadland utilised the boot of full-back Murray as they kicked for position. With a line-out won at the Mersea five-metre line, Broadland put in a short line-out, Asa Morrison collected the ball at the front and cleared the try line, but was not able to get the ball down.

Broadland came close following the next scrum, but when Adam Towfighi found the space to score, the referee called play back. Broadland saw a penalty go wide, and Mersea added a penalty to extend the lead.

Broadland made it onto the score board in the final minutes of the half as hooker Ant Payne collected a tap down from the line-out, to bulldoze over to score (unconverted). Mersea led 10-5 at the halfway stage.

Broadland were performing well, but were caught out as Mersea managed to break through the middle to score. Stuart Murray added a penalty for Broadland, but Mersea then extended their lead with a converted try.

Murray reversed the kick off and wing Jake Clarke collected the ball, and almost snuck around the outside, but was just knocked into touch. Mersea concluded the afternoon with a late score. Broadland came away knowing it could have been considerably closer.

Broadland-GY: S Murray, J Clarke, S Ledgerwood (capt), S Howley B Collings, S Ruddick, P Buckley, J Dwyer, A Payne, M Jerome, S French, A Morrison, R Ruddick, R Bilyard, A Towfighi. Replacements: M Cammock (66)

Tries: A Payne. Pen: S Murray 1 of 2. Con: S Murray 0 of 1

Tomorrow, Broadland–Great Yarmouth host Ipswich YM in the league, for further details about rugby in Great Yarmouth visit www.broadlandrfc.com

Broadland Tigers 74 Norwich III 14

A great performance from the Tigers saw them come away with a confidence boosting win with 10 different players on the scoresheet.

Norwich didn’t have a recognised front row so the game was uncontested in the scrums. This looked like it was going to be in favour of the visiting team as the home side only had three recognised backs.

The home side seized the advantage and kept the ball in tight and ran hard at the Norwich forwards. The big running of N Bensley saw him score a hat-trick of tries with his best being a run up the touchline from just inside his own half.

The Tigers’ back line also got involved in the game with R Clarke getting quick ball out and B Trett bulldozing his way through a back line that just didn’t want to tackle him for another hat-trick.

The visitors did stage a bit of a comeback by scoring two converted tries. The second half saw some injuries to the visitors so L Lovick and J Chaplin-Madden switched sides with T Swift coming on for Broadland.

Other try scorers included J Dudley with a brace and his first for the club, D Boyne-Junior with his first for the club, C Hewitt (one try) and L Buckley (one try). Three further tries came from the team’s father and son duo with D Moorehouse getting one and L Moorehouse scoring two. Four more points came from K Wilkes and P Finney’s drop kick conversions.