South Woodham’s second home game of the season ended in disappointment as they lost 27-16 to London Two North East leaders Norwich.

Woodham led until the 70th minute but ill-discipline and poor defending meant they were unable to hang on to secure victory.

The opening exchanges offered little for the spectators with both defences snuffing out any attack that came their way.

But it was Woodham who opened the scoring with a well worked try finished by Warren Duggan.

The conversion was missed but the home side were able to extend their lead after a promising attack resulted in a penalty scored by Jamie Cox and the half ended with Woodham on top with an eight point advantage.

However, an extremely slow start to the second half by Woodham saw Norwich score two converted tries before they sprung back into life.

It was game on when Woodham broke out of their own half to score a fine running try from the backs with winger Alex Baker touching down.

Cox added an extra three points when Woodham were awarded another penalty, with just 15 minutes of the game left the home side led 16-14.

However, what followed was a period of implosion as the home side handed the game back to Norwich.

First, they gave away a soft penalty which was compounded by dissent and brought the kick within range of the posts.

Norwich took advantage and made it a two-point game.

The same error was repeated shortly after and Norwich were handed the lead as, again, poor discipline saw the referee march a penalty on 10 more yards to make the kick easy.

It also saw Sevie Hurrell sin binned, leaving a gap in the defence for the closing few moments of the game. As a result, Norwich put the game out of reach of the home side with a try straight from the kick-off.

Woodham are sixth in the standings having won just one of their opening three games.

In London One South, Thurrock lost 26-10 at Westcombe Park and now sit eighth in the table.

In London Three Essex, winless Basildon suffered a third successive defeat, losing 26-14 at Ilford Wanderers.

In Essex One, Canvey Island beat Old Brentwoods 70-0 and Billericay saw off Harwich & Dovercourt 17-10.