In dreadful conditions, Norwich produced a much improved and much more committed display against one of the promotion contenders.

The main reason they came away empty handed was Eton Manor’s superior lineout and an inability to resist their driving maul. 

With the wind at their backs in the first half, Norwich weathered the early assaults from the visitors and built some pressure of their own.

On 20 minutes they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts and Jake Christian-Goss kicked it. 

Five minutes later Manor lost a player to the bin for a high tackle but their defence remained resolute as it was all game.

Five minutes before half time Manor got their first try following, what became, a familiar pattern of a penalty kick to the corner and a driving maul that Norwich were unable to halt against a much bigger pack.

The kick was missed.  Christian-Goss then landed another penalty to allow Norwich a one point lead that they preserved until half time courtesy of some heroic goal line defence in the face of some battering phases from Manor. 

Norwich were forced to defend for the first six minutes after the restart as Manor used the wind to good effect and after holding them at bay, space was worked on the outside as Norwich fell off the last tackle and they scored in the corner. The kick was missed.

A very good wind assisted 50/22 put the visitors in the corner and their solid lineout and well drilled rolling maul did the rest. They could not convert. 

They repeated the process twice more from penalty kicks to the corner and converted the final one. 

Norwich never gave up though and much of the late pressure came from them, following some great work by the centres, Ed Montgomery and Danny Van Staden.

As the conditions worsened, some passes didn’t stick which relieved the pressure but on the final play, Norwich forced their way deep into the 22 and Callum Van Staden was on hand on the wing to slide in at the corner. The conversion was missed.

It was a creditable and much improved performance from the home side ahead of their local derby against high flying Wymondham next week.