Colchester 1st XV 41 | 17 Eton Manor

Colchester eclipse their long standing rivals Eton Manor in an exhilarating game at Mill Road

On a sunny day Colchester entertained old Essex rivals Eton Manor and after a fairly even first half they ran away with the game scoring in all six tries to Manor's two claiming a terrific 41-17 victory.

Man-of-the Match Jack White had an excellent game at fly half brilliantly using his kicking and passing skills to Colchester's advantage. The scrums were mostly in Colchester's favour as were the line-outs with the team often winning turnover ball in both.

The experiment of playing George Liversidge with Will Brown in the centre worked well as they made many inroads through their opponent's defence. Also the return of prop James Mitchell and hooker Rhys Harley boosted the strength of the pack.

Manor kicked off and before long the referee awarded Colchester a penalty. White kicked to the corner and the resulting lineout was won but when the ball was shipped out wide a Manor player intercepted it and ran well into Colchester's half and won a penalty which their outside centre converted to put the visitors in the lead by three points.

Later White again put the ball in to the corner for a Black lineout. Hartley threw to skipper Liam Pickett and his fellow lock, Joe Colcomb piled over the line for his first ever try for the firsts. 7-3 to the hosts. Manor restarted and before long launched an attack moving the ball swiftly to their outside centre who broke through the defence to score and convert a try putting the visitors back in the lead 7-10.

Shortly after the restart Manor won a scrum near their line and flanker Rob Pickard charged down the full back's clearance kick. The ball was moved through several pairs of hands to White who timed a grubber kick perfectly for winger Crozier to ground in the corner moving the interval score to 12-10.

At the start of the second half lock Elliott Castle replaced Colcomb and scored on the right within minutes of joining the match. Crozier converted and the Blacks tails were up leading by 19-10. Soon Brown used his electric pace to put the hosts back in Manor's half and good work by their back row of Rob Pickard, Ollie Pickett and Danny Whiteman led to a penalty that Crozier duly converted stretching the lead to 22-10. Not long after this Brown was injured and Joe Flexman came off the bench to take his place.

Now Colchester were rampant and surged towards their opponent's line, winning a line out and moving the ball blind for Hartley to score in the corner. This attack was swiftly followed by another when Liam Pickett crashed over for another converted try meaning the score was now 36-10.
Again White kicked to the corner in the final moments of the game and a successful catch and drive lineout saw Whiteman claim the final try. Shortly after this the referee, who had kept good control of the game, blew for full time.

Steve Whiteman