Steve Whiteman, club stalwart and match reported said, quote: “good start, mediocre middle and fantastic finish!” This accurately sums up our 38-14 home victory over Diss on Saturday.

Diss fielded an experienced group of forwards and their No.8, Steve Hipwell, posed a threat with the ball in hand, but he was well managed by Ollie Pickett and as a result rarely had the time, opportunity or space to trigger try scoring opportunities. Steve played most of his rugby in the higher divisions for Cambridge and he's a very effective player who deserved our utmost respect.

Shelford Meads made a fabulous start to his Colchester career, assisting in two of the six Colchester tries and grabbing a try for himself in the 35th minute. In fact Shelford made an almost instantaneous impact, releasing Brett Cutbush in the 2nd minute of the game enabling us to secure an early lead that we never relinquished.

After our games we always take a look at how our competitors in London 1 North have faired. There are four sides with 100% records, Colchester, Fullerians, Amersham and Chiltern and Chingford. Already, the game at Chingford on 30th September is shaping up to be a significant collision. Next week the league program rolls on and on Saturday we will visit Saffron Walden RFC.

Rugby at Colchester is far more than just 15 players; it’s a huge team and so many people contribute to making our club what it is… This weekend we bid farewell (temporarily) to one of the team – Liam Tully. Liam has been the 1st XV touch judge for a number of seasons, but he is now leaving Colchester to start university. We wish Liam all the best and thank him for the contribution he has made to Colchester RFC.

On Saturday Fin Nuttall spent the afternoon shadowing Liam to take over his duties. Fin and Ewan Waters, both Colchester RFC Colts, will be taking over Liam’s ‘flag’ and we look forward to working with them both this season.

Other games on Saturday saw the Ravens finish second best to a strong Bury Wolfhounds side in an entertaining game. You can read all about it in Alex Lacey’s comprehensive report on the club website.

What’s noticeable about the Ravens side so far this season is the emergence of a number of young players. I always try to talk to our veteran winger (now also occasional openside flanker!) Paul Summerson after the game to hear about the progress of our youngsters and he was full of praise for all of them. I am particularly hearing a lot of good things about Lewis Williams. Lewis is a graduating Colchester Colt who made his mark as a scrum half, but in recent weeks he has been impressing on the wing and at fly half. We’ll be monitoring his progress carefully.

Elsewhere the A XV and Roundheads both secured wins against Stowmarket 2’s and Ipswich 3’s respectively. Unfortunately the 4th team did not take to the field after Thurston withdrew from their game earlier in the week.

Make sure to check out Jon's preview of this weekend's games which will be in Raven Mad tomorrow!