It had been expected for months but Saffron Walden's inexorable march to the title was still celebrated with much gusto.

The Henham-based rugby club had already won all 18 of their Counties One Eastern Counties so far and knew victory over Diss would seal the crown and promotion to the regional divisions.

And that came with a comprehensive 47-10 success, leaving them 16 points clear with three games still to go.

And there was no doubt of them failing to win as they charged to the bonus point by the break.

It only took five minutes to get on the board, George Menhinick crossing the line with Morgan Cook converting, and they doubled their lead 10 minutes later after Joe Saych found space on the blind side.

The backs got try number three, Kevin Lock coming off his wing to go over near the posts and although the home side pulled an unconverted try back, Walden had their fourth before the 40 minutes was up.

It came from a line-out and after a series of drives, Archie Weeks barged over to score his first ever try for the club.

Diss scored first in the second half with a good move, pulling the score back to 28-10 after 43 minutes, but three minutes later Walden hit back with seven points of their own, Ben Saych adding his name to the list of scorers.

Safe in the knowledge that the game, title and promotion were all secure, the game went through a scrappy period with Walden losing their shape and trying too hard to score off every move.

Once they composed themselves though, they did finish the game with more points.

Ben Saych used his pace to grab his second and Walden's sixth and then a remarkable solo effort from Cook wrapped things up.

He received the ball 30 metres out and looked to have been stopped after charging through a couple of tackles.

He wasn't held though and so bounced back to his feet to break more tackles and power over the line.