Colchester’s Under 18 Academy side progressed to the 4th round of the National Cup with a hard earned victory over a very game Hitchin squad on Sunday.
Conditions made life very difficult, following heavy overnight rain, and were made even worse by driving rain throughout the match; a fluent expansive game was impossible !
Hitchin started on the attack and for the first 10 minutes, Colchester’s superb defence stood firm.
Colchester broke out with a kick ahead by full back George Turner, and an excellent chase resulted in Hitchin offending at the break-down; Elliot Cryne slotted the penalty.
This was followed by a further Cryne penalty after 15 minutes to give Colchester a 6-0 lead.
Colchester now started to take control, with Will Hudson and Matt French dominating the line-outs, and skipper Dan Hexley, and hooker Ben May winning the battle at the break-down; a number of good attacks were well defended by Hitchin, before the ball was passed down the line to left winger Tom Hughes; he off-loaded to Elliot Cryne, on the loop – he dived over in the corner to stretch Colchester’s lead to 11-0 after 30 minutes.
The second half became a bit of a stalemate, with rugby difficult in the increasingly muddy conditions, with both defences cancelling error strewn attacks. Nevertheless Cryne added a further penalty before the Colchester pack manufactured a foot chase down the right hand side causing the defence to fumble; hooker Ben May capped a fine game, and was on hand to dive over in the right hand corner to extend Colchester’s lead to 19-0.
This was an excellent performance from a committed side.

The Colts have drawn Tonbridge Juddians in the 4th round at home to be played on Sunday