Colchester Academy progress in National Colts Cup

Colchester entertained Eastern Counties rivals Diss in the National Colts Cup First Round at Mill Road and emerged victorious after a keenly competetive game played in very good spirit. The game was notable for a fine kicking display from fly half Rhys Smith and the encouraging work from the Colchester replacements who came on the game progressed.

Almost immediately from their own kick-off, Colchester ran a set training ground move from a line out, releasing centre Will Blakemore who charged over to open the scoring. Soon afterwards, the home side turned over Diss ball and after some terrific interchanging and offloading through the forwards, number 8 Troy Palmer ran in to increase the lead. To their credit, Diss were not negatively effected by these early setbacks and, taking advantage of Colchester handling errors, enjoyed some possession and threatened to score on a number of occasions; winger Will Allen and full back Jack O’Sullivan having to be alert to prevent the speedy Diss winger from breaking through. The balance of play then swung back towards the home side when turnover ball allowed hooker Niclas Woodhead the opportunity to run in before flanker Matt Hexley broke away from deep allowing fly half Rhys Smith the space to find scrum half Lewis Williams who dived over under the posts. Showing great heart, the away side continued to play positive rugby and earned their reward with a converted close range try just before half time.
Half Time: Colchester 28 Diss 7
Colchester emerged from the half time interval with initial purpose having been reminded of the need to control the ball better when in possession and to vary play from the set piece. Using the ball well from the Diss kick-off, play was developed forward enabling O’Sullivan to burst through a gap, off-loading to scrum half Williams who touched down close to the posts to extend the lead. Much credit must be given to the Diss side however, because for the next 20 minutes or so, play was confined within the Colchester half of the pitch. The home side lost their structure, and coupled with impressive effort from the away side, Colchester were forced to defend robustly to prevent the away side from scoring again. As the game came to its conclusion, Colchester did regain some impetus and used quick hands to release fly half Rhys Smith to scamper over. With the final play of the game, Blakemore (now playing at 8) picked up from the back of a scrum and crashed over to complete the scoring.
Full Time: Colchester 47 Diss 7

Colchester coaches Steve Wright and Dean Tully were pleased with the result but recognised areas for improvement. Reflecting on the quote….."It's not the team with the best players that win. It's the players with the best team that wins"….. before the match, both identified aspects of the home side’s play that requires developing, saying “we lost our structure and organisation at times during the game and we conceded too much possession due to poor handling. These parts of our game must be improved as we progress forward.”