Colchester remain top of the table after a nine-try victory at Old Northamptonians – but this was a much tougher encounter than might have been expected against the league’s bottom side.

Such are the high standards they set themselves that the players and coaches were less than ecstatic after the 51-29 win which maintains their unbeaten start to the campaign.

“Half of their points we gave to them,” said head coach Mike Haywood.

“It’s always going to be tricky coming to a place like this. They’re fighting to get their first win under their belt and credit to them; they stuck at it.”

Indeed, the hosts never let Colchester dominate in the first period, despite player-of-the-match Haydn Sykes combining well with the returning Jacob Bodkin to score the Blacks’ first try inside three minutes.

Nineteen-year-old Henry Newman, on his first team debut and looking assured at flyhalf in place of the injured Gabe Jones, kicked the conversion.

An interception gifted ONs a try to level the scores, before Danny Whiteman took a pass from Connor O’Reilly to run in on the right to make it 7-12.

A scrum penalty for the hosts closed the gap but Whiteman had his second midway through the half, the number 8 taking a pass from Ethan Cole who had jinked into the opposition 22.

Colchester tried to play out of their own 22, only to cough up the ball for the hosts’ second try to make it 17-19 as Whiteman was forced off with an eye injury, to be replaced by Alex Gerard.

On the half hour, Colchester had their bonus point as Cole took a cute pass from Newman to streak in after a break by Will Blakemore.

With ONs reduced to 14 players for a deliberate slap down, Bodkin crossed to make it 17-29 at the break.

Early in the second half the ball went down the line to Sykes, lurking on the wing, and the lock scored his second, then Ted Reid sparked the move which led to Cole’s second on 48 minutes.

The hosts pulled another try back, but Colchester were always in control, and Cole completed his hat-trick on the hour as the wing sped over in the corner, Newman converting from the touchline to make it 22-46.

Old Northamptonians had their bonus point try soon after, but Colchester wrapped things up through skipper Cam Kerr’s score.

That’s 33 tries in three matches, and they could have had another, but the ref disallowed Ben Kelland’s effort for a double movement.

To add insult to injury, Colchester were marched back 10 metres, then a further 10, for backchat. But by then the visitors were home and hosed.

Afterwards Haywood singled out Sykes as “an unsung hero.”
“He does a lot of the dog work but then out of the blue he’ll make a line break. He’s a very talented player.”

Haywood also had praise for debutant Newman. “As a club we want to develop home-grown talent. Henry stepped in and did a great job.”

Colchester return to Raven Park on Saturday to play sixth placed Tring (3pm kick-off).

A last gasp try earned the Ravens a terrific 26-24 win over Newmarket to go sixth in Counties 1, while the As stay top of their league after a 33-9 win at Halstead.