Heavy defeat for West Norfolk

West Norfolk’s hopes of a mid-table finish in Counties 1 Eastern Counties were dented with a heavy 44-7 defeat at Southwold on Saturday.

Four late tries heaped more misery on West Norfolk who went into the game ravaged by injuries and unavailability.

West director of rugby Darren Clarke said: “The long away trip to Southwold was once again beset by unavailability due to injury, work and holidays.

“I can’t fault the efforts of all those that came in but we struggled to cope with the physicality of the opposition. Again we had very little luck losing captain Wicks in the first five minutes and Moses shortly after.

“Three yellow cards also put us on the back foot.

“There were positives to take, especially the last 10 minutes of the first half and the first 20 minutes of the second.

“A new lineout functioned well on its debut and the players remain positive for the rest of the season.”

West Norfolk welcomed back captain Jack Wicks while Dom Hubbard, Josh Nelson and Cameron Bennett stepped up as finishers on the bench.

Wicks’ return lasted all of a few minutes after he clashed heads with a team-mate and left the field of play to be stitched up.

Worse was to follow with a yellow card for Edney Costa for a high tackle and another early injury for stalwart Sam Moses.

With West unsettled, Southwold took advantage scoring two unanswered tries in quick succession to take a 14-point lead.

Southwold added two penalties as the visitors struggled to get a foothold in the contest.

West Norfolk were much better at the start of the second period.

A lineout found the safe hands of Dan Stephenson, and after catching and driving and with admirable patience, eventually West would drive over the line for a try converted by Haydn Revell.

West Norfolk’s momentum ended here with two yellow cards allowing the home side to reply with four unanswered tries.

Adrian Flux man of the match was James Dobbler (sponsored by Trundley Group).

On Saturday, West Norfolk entertain Ipswich at Gatehouse Lane whilst the 2nds host Norwich Medics.

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