Colchester Colts defeat Braintree Colts

Colchester Colts enjoyed a fairly comfortable victory over the spirited team from Braintree who had a small squad compared to player availability at Colchester. However, with the home scrum and forwards providing lots of good ball, it was pleasing that the home back line took advantage to produce scoring opportunities at regular intervals throughout the game.

The pattern of play was established very quickly as Colchester's kick off was mishandled by Braintree, giving Colchester early territorial advantage. A turnover and quick ball gave flanker Sam Lines the opportunity of pushing over from close range to open the scoring (7-0). The away side, taking advantage of a number of home penalties achieved some useful field position inside the Colchester half before captain Lines broke away to halfway; the subsequent back line move releasing speedy winger Craig Doran to dive over in the corner (14-0). Doran scored his second try shortly afterwards when some further effective back line ball movement sent him on his way. (19-0) Ollie Eaves also demonstrated his pace along the touchline before being brought down, before number 8 Zac Puckey dived over from a driving maul to further extend the lead (24-0). A charged down Braintree clearance kick and slick hands gave Eaves his change to score in the corner (31-0) before the first half scoring was completed by fly half Sam Borges who received a terrific off-load just before diving under the posts (38-0).
Half Time: Colchester Colts 38 Braintree Colts 0

The spirited Braintree side enjoyed a period of possession within the Colchester half early in the second half but this was stopped by Ben Simpson who took advantage of turnover ball to race away to halfway before being tackled into touch. From subsequent possession Puckey broke a tackle and sprinted away from halfway to touch down under the posts (45-0). George Fuller was next to register on the score board after some quick hands released him out wide (52-0) before Rhys Smith had the final word when breaking away from halfway and (just...) reaching the try line before being brought down (57-0). It was unfortunate that the game was brought to a slightly premature end due a head injury to a Braintree player - all at Colchester wish him a speedy recovery. Many thanks must go to Colchester's Thomas Carver-Hardy for playing for Braintree in the pack as injuries took their toll.
Full Time: Colchester Colts 57 Braintree Colts 0

The Colchester coaching team of Sean O'Sullivan, Steve Wright and Dean Tully were pleased with what they saw; O'Sullivan saying "today we saw the standards set on the training field being put into practice during game time. Despite the many interchanges made during the game, our structure remained sound and this will give the coaches a number of difficult selection decisions going forward".