Woodbridge too good for Colchester

Colchester suffered a comprehensive defeat at the hands of a very good Woodbridge side in their opening round-robin game of the Eastern Counties Cup. In muddy and windy conditions, the home side were given a lesson in game management by their opponents who took their opportunities well whilst restricting Colchester's threat throughout the game. Colchester did not help themselves by coughing up possession at regular intervals, but all credit must go to Woodbridge who thoroughly deserved their victory on the day.

Woodbridge started the game much the stronger and the opposition forward pack opened the scoring shortly after kick off. With Colchester struggling to keep possession of the rugby ball and showing too many handling errors, the Woodbridge backs took advantage to extend the lead with a try in the corner. Colchester slowly worked their way into the game and with their best spell of pressure in the opening period, captain Dan Harding rounded off some fine interchanging between forwards and backs to run in for the opening Colchester try.
Half Time: Colchester 5 Woodbridge 12
The game was effectively ended as a contest very early in the second half when Woodbridge took advantage of some very sloppy Colchester play to score two further tries in the opening 5 minutes. Failure to collect the Woodbridge restart led to turnover ball and an easy Woodbridge score before some weak and missed tackles allowed the Woodbridge backs to run through shortly afterwards. Following this period, Colchester enjoyed some possession and territory but were unable to break through some strong Woodbridge defence and after a loose pass went to the opposition, Woodbridge broke away to further extend the lead. Fly half Owen Cowley did reduce the arrears slightly with a good try when taking a short pass at pace but this was the last time that Colchester troubled the scorers as Woodbridge re-exerted their authority with two further tries as the game drew to a close.
Full Time: Colchester 10 Woodbridge 43