Colchester RFC 17 London Irish Wild Geese 36

Despite a spirited fight back in the second half Colchester were defeated by a well organised Irish side by 5 tries (and a penalty) to 3. This was a fast moving game in perfect weather conditions well controlled by London Society referee Jack Lewars.
The visitors soon took the lead and didn’t relinquish it, despite the hosts’ efforts, and showed why they narrowly missed out being promoted last season with their key players in the number 4, 8, 10 and 15 green shirts being particularly impressive.

Colchester fielded a couple of changes to their starting line-up with Matt Wadling replacing the injured David Higgins at fly half and George Liversidge coming into the back row at No.8.
From their kick off the Irish took the game into the Blacks’ half and fly half Ollie Turner scored a quick unconverted try. Shocked into action Colchester fought back from the restart and earned a scrum on the centre spot. Scrum half Ed Parry moved the won ball out to the backs. It shifted through various hands until fullback Brett Cutbush raced in for a fine try. Centre Tom Miller missed the conversion bringing the score to 5 – 5.
The Blacks forwards were working hard to contain the heavier Green pack in the scrums with flankers Danny Whiteman and Ollie Pickett disrupting much of the loose play.
After 30 minutes the Irish won a lineout only 5 metres out from the hosts’ try line.
Lock Andy Evans palmed the ball down to fullback George Owen who steamed over for a converted try. Shortly after this incident the visitors attacked again. Darren Livett, their mobile No.8, charged up field, supported by flanker Chris Browne who scored a good try, which Owen converted bringing the score to 5 – 19. Owen then scored again; a try which he converted just before the half time interval.

Trailing by 21 points would have disheartened many teams but Colchester rose to the challenge in the second half. Before long, Cutbush raced in for his second unconverted try.
There then followed a period of intense pressure by the Blacks which put the Greens on the back foot as they made some uncharacteristic errors. Replacement Ollie White came off the bench to replace Liversidge to add some variety and the backs put together some smart moves to try to outwit the defence. One such move ended when wing Joe Flexman weaved through to score in the right hand corner. Miller succeeded with the conversion moving the scores closer at 17 – 26. Tight-head prop Sam Trott came on for hard working Jay Hatcher which boosted the front row but Colchester were giving away too many penalties. Owen missed one but converted another adding 3 points to their score. Irish finished with a flourish with a quick tap and go penalty which caught the Blacks off-guard and Evans scored by the posts. Owen converted and the whistle concluded the game at 17 – 36.