Dereham 5, Newmarket 29THE Dereham captain Malcolmson said: “We have been on fantastic form recently and it is important that we put this loss to the back of our heads and go out next match and win.

Dereham 5, Newmarket 29

THE Dereham captain Malcolmson said: “We have been on fantastic form recently and it is important that we put this loss to the back of our heads and go out next match and win.” On Saturday, Dereham travel to Thetford in the league.

Att Moorgate at the weekend Dereham were suffering with players out through injury, which gave Matt Spooner the chance to start at prop and Derbyshire to move to full-back.

The game was riddled with cards for both teams with Dereham receiving four yellows and Newmarket receiving three and one red card.

Dereham started well, exerting good forward pressure on the Newmarket line and came close on a number of occasions. But good tackles from the Newmarket centres saw them clear their lines to safety. Newmarket played some good rugby in the Dereham 22 and an overlap saw the winger cross for a try.

Some ill discipline on both sides saw the two props sent to the sin bin. Newmarket then put on good pressure and some sloppy defending by Dereham allowed another try.

Dereham started the second half well, putting more pressure on the visiting forwards, but a loose pass intercepted gifted Newmarket another try with a strong run from the replacement winger. The game then turned in to a dogged affair in the midfield with both teams getting agitated, resulting in a mass of cards being shown by the referee.

Dereham were down to 13 men and Newmarket capitalised on this with a quick break down the blindside, cutting past the scrum half to score their fourth try. Back to full numbers Dereham dramatically upped their game and camped in the Newmarket 22. A well driven scrum saw the ball at Edwards's feet at No 8 and once the drive had gone over the line, Fish pounced on the ball to score.

Dereham Barbarians 34, Diss 12

ON Sunday morning the Barbarians played their third match of the season. With the return of Affleck at fly half, Edwards moved in to the centres and Stolworthy dropped to full back.

The Barbarians started quickly and some fine kicking from Affleck gave the forwards the chance to attack the Diss line from a set play. Warren turned over a Diss line-out and popped down to Val at scrum half to break the Diss line and score.

Diss then took control of the game and showed good aggression all over the park turning over rucks and linking some flowing moves in the backs. As a result of this a mis-tackle allowed Rumble to cross the line for a try. The fly half then converted his own try. The visitors continued to put pressure on the Barbarian backs and an overlap on the wing gave May a chance to score.

The Barbarians picked up their game and soon another gap opened up for Val to cross from close range for his second try.

The Barbarians started the second half very aggressively with the backs running some good lines. A box kick was misjudged by the Diss full back and McCullough kicked through from the halfway line, but the centre was pulled down. However, Warren was in close pursuit and capitalised on a fortunate bounce to score.

The Barbarians won their own restart and the forwards set up a powerful drive, making 20 metres before Evans broke on the blind side to score in the corner. Diss threatened but Val and Bean put in some big score-saving tackles.

Great pressure from Reader and Bean made the Diss stand off slice his kick which was pounced on by Reader to score his first try for the Barbarians. A break from Cudden saw the second row flick the ball over the winger's head to Edwards at pace, who handed off the full back to score the Barbarians' sixth try.

Captain Evans said: “We played well today, and against a strong team we have played some very attractive rugby.”