Colchester Colts 22 Bury Colts 17

Colchester entertained their local rivals Bury at Mill Road, both sides playing with spirit and structure; the resulting game being a competitive encounter which ended in a one score deficit victory for the home side. The Colchester coaching team have identified lots of areas for development following this fixture and many thanks to Bury colleagues for a close and tight game.

After the Bury kick-off, Colchester eased themselves into the game and opened the scoring after centre Jonah Varela crossed following good home pressure (try converted by fly half Sam Borges); the opportunity being created after a significant line break from captain Sam Lines (7-0). Bury then enjoyed some useful time within Colchester territory earning penalties and, benefitting from a Colchester yellow card, earned themselves an unconverted score (7-5). Back came Colchester and with the backline showing their worth, centre Tom Coates produced a great pass to put in winger Joe Boone to score just before half time (12-5).
Half Time: Colchester 12 Bury 5

Colchester had the better of the opening exchanges of the second half with Lines crossing again for the home side soon after the restart (17-5). A terrific break from Max Robertson then set up Varela for his second score to further extend the lead (22-5). To their credit, Bury did not become despondent and came back into the game as Colchester appeared to lose a little focus. Two further away scores caused some concern but the final whistle came at the right time to ensure a narrow home victory.
Full Time: Colchester 22 Bury 17

Coach Dean Tully was reflective about the performance saying: "We had a good strong start by the players which continued up until half time. However, at the clinical time when we should have driven home the advantage, the team took the foot off the gas but managed to just keep the advantage until the final whistle."