Saturday was a very disappointing result for a team wanting to consolidate their mid-table position in their first season in the London 3 Eastern Counties Division. This young side needs to stand back and reflect on how to make this complicated game easier. Amazingly there are times when you should take the simple option. When you have the wind at your back you should use the boot to make ground and not to try and run from the deep, risking turnovers and pressure. You will not score tries every time you get possession. Occasionally you should work for field position and put the onus on the opposition to work out of their own defence. A combination of all of these measures and also to stop giving easy penalties away could make a big difference to the game!
The match started at a hectic pace with huge commitment from both sides. Crusaders were happy for Fakenham to keep the ball alive and in hand as their much more direct approach was regularly getting the upper hand. The away sides larger forwards were causing problems for the Fakenham’s defence, resulting in an early converted try. 0 -7 to Crusaders. Fakenham struck back after a well taken line out on the 5-meter line by Adam Lingwood. This was mauled and the impressive Howard Kellock, ably supported by Jack Powell-Thorne, peeled

After finishing off the old year with an away win against Woodbridge and also beating league leaders, Holt, the four-week layoff seemed to have a really adverse effect on the Fakenham team, todays performance was disjointed and lacked accuracy, far too many times the ball was coughed up and first up tackles were brushed aside. From the outset West Norfolk played well with their large forwards more than making the gain line , in turn giving good ball to their very sharp half back pairing.
Early pressure from West Norfolk saw them held up twice over the Fakenham goal line with some good work by Joe Bane-Young and Lyam Thorpe in defence. When the try did come from West No8 Jamie Williamson, it also came with a yellow card for Fakenham. This knocked the confidence of the away side and saw West Norfolk score again, almost from the restart after some very poor defensive work. At 14 points down and 14 men on the field with only 12 minutes played, things were looking bad. Fakenham hung on though and produced a try of their own some 10 minutes later. Slick passing by Damon Howick saw Brett Stolworthy elusively cross over for a converted try making the score 14 points to 7. Expectations that this was the catalyst for a more cohesive looking Fakenham unfortunately