LONDON 1 NORTH: North Walsham 118 Braintree 0

BRAINTREE found themselves on the wrong end of an 18-try humbling at the hands of a fast-improving North Walsham side.

Braintree deserve massive credit for just getting 18 players on the coach up to Norfolk after several of their first-team regulars ruled themselves out of selection earlier in the week.

Gary Coote and his management team managed to scrape together an 18-man squad and those that travelled to Norfolk gave their all for the club.

But Braintree were already 26-0 when they lost hooker Daryl Coote and wing Tim Ashford through injury on 22 minutes.

The hosts racked up an unassailable 52-0 lead by half-time.

After the break the visitors’ woes continued as they lost number eight Mark Loftus to injury and North Walsham ran in a further ten tries.