Dereham's 2015 woes continued when they were soundly beaten by Medics on Saturday.

The New Year has seen the club's fortunes dip dramatically and the Medics team who visited on Saturday must have thought they were playing a different team from the one which contributed to an entertaining encounter early in the season. Despite dominating in the scrum in the first quarter, Dereham were unable to capitalise and often the ball was too slow emerging from the set-pieces. Medics took full advantage of the home team's lack of pace wide on the pitch and, having won a loose ball, moved it quickly through their effective back line to score in the 10th minute.

A similar score was to follow five minutes later when, again, Dereham's scrambling defence was not quick enough to cover. Despite their weight advantage, the hosts were losing more rucks than they should. Consequently, ball retention suffered and they were unable to force their game on Medics. Another lost ruck on their own ball led to the visitors' next score and when a home player passed forward when well placed, the Medics scrum won their ball and ran in yet another try from a wide position. The last play of the first half allowed Dereham to get a foothold when centre Les Moon picked up and ran in a good try.

The second half started with good exchanges but Medics soon took control to increase their advantage with scores until home captain Jack Edwards managed to add to his team's tally.

Dereham's skipper said: 'This was another disappointing day for the team and we're smarting in the dressing room. We seem to be missing the spark we showed early in the season and the intensity levels must go up now if we're going to compete.'