An extremely confident Haverhill side traveled to Cobholm today expecting to add Broadland to their list of easily vanquished foes: having scored three hundred and thirty two points in eleven games and conceded only twenty points all season (and none since October), I suppose, they felt that they had every right to. Any doubts about the kind of contest that would be played today were quelled by the rousing singing from the away sides dressing-room as they changed.

But Broadland knew they were not an easy target and, after listening to the tones of the Haverhill choir reverberating around their dressing-room, as they made their way to the pitch, the faces of the front-row and the 19-stone lock, Riches, looked like someone had just told them they were going to have to buy all the drinks afterwards; we were in for a real treat this afternoon.

From the outset, Haverhill started to move the ball. With some excellent ball-handling, good running and kicking Broadland found themselves on the back foot and, ten minutes into the game, two tries (one converted) down. But once settled, they moved forward with some superb penetrating runs from Smithdale, Prescott and Ruddick. Always in contention and moving forward, it was only a matter of time before pressure was turned into points.

From a lineout in their own half, close to the halfway line, Broadland setup a solid maul based on the 19-and-a-half stone Riches. Moving forward, the scrum-half Clarke fed the ball to a speeding Prescott who made a good ten yards before spinning the ball out to Bould. Making excellent ground and, after successfully eluding a wild tackle from the Haverhill center, he fed the ball back out to Clarke, who managed to touch down near the corner to put the first points on the board for the home side after 35 minutes. He then followed this with a missed conversion!

Continuing pressure from the restart saw the home side push forward into the opposition 22 and were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Electing to kick for goal just before half-time, the score was narrowed to 15 - 8.

The second half began as the first had ended with Broadland continuing to pile on the pressure and, apart from when Haverhill managed to occasionally push them back into their own half, this was how the remainder of the game went. Some solid defense and hard tackling from Broadland was having a punishing effect on the visitors.

In one of Haverhill's first attacks of the second-half, the home side conceded a penalty in their own 22 and, surprisingly, the visitors elected to kick instead of going for the try. A successful conversion from the ever accurate boot of the fly half saw Haverhill stretch their lead to 18 - 8.

Fifteen minutes into the half saw Durrant racing down the right wing with Ruddick in support. If the remaining support had managed to keep with them then it would surely have been another try. Unfortunately, some sterling defense from Haverhill managed to stop the attack but Broadland retained possession at the restart and were in a good position to capitalize.

Even though the pack struggled to compete throughout the game in the scrum they managed to move the ball quickly and, in the third-phase recycling, managed to feed to the ever reliable prop, Beef, who crashed over the line for Broadland's second try which was successfully converted by Clarke.

The final ten minutes of the game was very much a stop-start period with countless Haverhill players suffering from the pounding tackles of the Broadland fifteen, each requiring a quick couple of minutes to regain their feet: Bould, who was good in attack and superb in defense made hit after hit for the whole eighty minutes; Prescott; Bilyard; Beef; Smith; Callum; the twenty-stone lock, Riches; Smithdale; every man-jack made their fair-share of bone-crunchers today and it was only an unfortunate tackle from Jarnisch that saw him leave the field with a suspected dislocated shoulder. This forced Broadland to make an unwanted substitution and to continue their battle into the Haverhill half.

In the dying minutes of the game, the Broadland substitute managed to plod down the left-wing and, when faced with the opposing fullback, elected to grubber-kick past him, deliberately aiming for touch. A lucky bounce saw the ball bounce infield and, with the last reserves of strength in his tiring legs he managed to flop, gasping, down onto the ball to give Broadland the lead for the first-time in the game. The kick was unconverted and, running back for the restart, the referee blew the whistle to end the game and to give Broadland a well-deserved win over a very tired Haverhill side.

It was nice to see Haverhill stop for a few beers afterwards before travelling home and it was a pity they didn't stop a little longer for the sing-song, but why bother they'd already had one today!