The 1st XV fixture at Saffron Walden was pretty much dominated by the conditions. Winter is coming... the blustery wind and driving rain, combined with a pitch in desperate need of a date with a lawn mower, made life difficult for our boys at Saffron Walden. Ultimately however, we left Springate with a bonus point win.

Saffron Walden clearly approached the game with a plan - utilise the conditions to make 'total rugby' as difficult as possible. The field/pitch had a 'generous' covering of grass and the opposition made their intentions very clear when they started the game with a skidding side-foot grubber kick; a tactic they repeated on two further occasions.

After taking an early lead the deteriorating weather and conditions made handling extremely challenging but we managed to create a number of try scoring opportunities and recorded three first half tries (Brennan, Meads and Wadling). In the second half we were only able to add a further five points (a try from James Mitchell) to our score. Although quite frustrating, it was the result we wanted; a win and a bonus point for scoring four tries. We maintained our momentum and our 100% record - mission accomplished.

Joe McMillan was our Man of the Match and the recipient of a meal for two voucher courtesy of Milsoms Restaurants and a complimentary bottle from Nethergate wines. Our scrum was dominant and Joe made life incredibly challenging for the Saffron Walden tight head prop. Despite our dominance we didn't really prosper in terms of the penalty count - the Walden front row escaped sanction on numerous occasions.

Shelford Meads put in another solid display and with the ball in hand he was a continual threat to the Walden defence. Unfortunately a fairly innocuous-looking clash meant that Dave Brennan had to leave the field early in the first half. Dave suffered a criss-cross cut to his left eyebrow and required hospital treatment. A rapid re-shuffle saw George Liversidge take Brennan's place at outside centre for the remainder of the game. Elsewhere it was great to see Matt Wadling (scrum half) and Chaz Hayes-Burt (blindside flanker) make their first starts of the season, both put in a good shift and Matt scored a typically opportunistic try; something that is rapidly becoming his trademark.

The 1st XV have two very important games in the next fortnight; Brentwood at home on 23rd September, then Chingford (away) on 30th September. After three weeks Chingford currently head London 1 North on the strength of their points difference (+146 points). Our next opponents Brentwood suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday, narrowly defeated by Amersham and Chiltern (22-19).

The Ravens made the long trip to Canterbury to face the Canterbury Pilgrims - a squad of contracted players who usually compete in National Division Two. The game was dominated by a series of early injuries. Notably, we hope that Ben Gledhill makes a speedy recovery from his torn calf muscle - he has spent some time in hospital and has undergone some surgery- get well soon Ben and thank you for putting in a great shift for the Ravens.

Finally I would like to end by passing on the deepest condolences of everyone at Colchester Senior Rugby to the friends and family of Josh Gilbert from Thurston RFC. Josh tragically lost his life this weekend on the field of play doing something he loved - playing rugby with his mates. There will be one minutes silence at Mill Road on Saturday at 3.00pm as a mark of our respect. Rest in peace Josh.