Swaffham 22 Hadleigh 25

Swaffham let a 14 point lead slip through their fingers and with it their chances of promotion to Eastern Counties One.

Table-toppers Hadleigh soon established an 8-0 lead before Swaffham rallied with a well- worked set-piece which sent the ball wide for Griffiths to score in the corner. For the next half an hour the home side played excellent rugby to add another 17 unanswered points to lead 22-8 lead going into the last quarter.

Hadleigh’s game was based around two big centres running directly and setting up quick ruck ball. Swaffham had done well to foil their attempts – but their continuous tackling was to eventually take its toll.

Swaffham suddenly started to give away penalties, allowing Hadleigh to keep up the pressure.

Two tries and a conversion brought the visitors to within two points with only three minutes to go. And Swaffham were unable to maintain their composure and their defensive line buckled once more to give Hadleigh the final score in the corner.

Barring miracles, Swaffham now need to take five point wins from each of their last three games and hope something happens above them, to have any chance of finishing in the top two.

Thetford also suffered a set-back on Saturday when they lost 25-9 to Thurston, who thus edged past them into second place, though both clubs are level on points – five behind Hadleigh but with a game in hand.

nSwaffham 2nds tested themselves against Holt 3rds in a development fixture for many of their up and coming colts players – and emerged with a 22-12 win.

Swaffham started under the cosh but went ahead when Morrissey burst up the field, to deliver the try scoring pass for Keates to dive in at in the corner. But Holt worked a try of their own just before half time to level the scores at 5-5.

Swaffham went back in front when Ryan Davies crashed over in his first game for the club. But Holt replied with a further try after 50 minutes which was converted from in front of the post.

Ten minutes later Scott delivered following some direct running from a number of the squad and quick delivery from the base of the rucks. The game was finally sealed in the last play as Terzza peeled from a maul close to the line to score and convert his own try.

nSwaffham RUFC has been chosen to be the first #rugbyunited amateur club.

#rugbyunited is the brain child of Trevor Large, a Gloucester RUFC fan, who just before Christmas thought it was a good idea to get rugby fans from all clubs and countries talking together on Twitter.

From this idea the Twitter movement of #rugbyunited was born. The idea was to create an online community where fans and players could swap ideas, discuss games and enjoy rugby banter.

Swaffham have been chosen as the first grassroots or amateur club of the week due to their presence on twitter (@swaffhamrufc) and involvement in discussions within the #rugbyunited community..