Colchester slipped up badly against ninth place Ruislip in West London on Saturday. They had a couple of changes in the team. Player/coach Joe Reid returned from injury to play at prop and coach Lee Soper slotted into the second row in the absence of skipper Liam Pickett.

The weather was dry but very windy and the Blacks had to play downhill in the first half on a sloping pitch but did not take advantage of this and gave a disjointed display of rugby with the forwards and backs not linking together well and too many individuals trying to do it all on their own.
Ruislip kicked off and there followed many lineouts with the home side coping better in the windy conditions. Within minutes they were in Colchester’s half catching and driving a lineout up to the try line. Following a successful scrum they moved the ball right to their winger who dived over in the corner for an unconverted try. 5 – 0 and only ten minutes gone.

Colchester’s woes were increased ten minutes later when a similar move put the winger in for another try in the corner. Not everything was going Ruislip’s way however. At the next lineout they knocked the ball forward and Colchester won a penalty at the ensuing scrum. Wing James Crozier converted well and the visitors had points on the board, 10-3.

Then things went from bad to worse when Soper was yellow-carded and Colchester were down to 14 men for ten minutes. During this time Ruislip attacked uphill again and scored a catch and drive try to make the half time score 15-3.

Shortly after the interval Colchester made some necessary changes. Injured centre Dave Brennan was replaced by Liam Williams off the bench and flanker Joe Beckett was replaced by Harrison Pickett in the back row. Ruislip soon stretched their lead with a successful penalty kick making it 18-8 before Soper returned to the fray. Also Simon Gray replaced prop Reid and Colchester started to attack with determination at last. The home side’s number 16 was yellow-carded and taking quick advantage Colchester moved the ball to centre Shelford Meads who scored in the left corner an unconverted try to make it 18-8.

Later in the rough and tumble of forward play Harrison Pickett was red-carded for hitting an opponent and the Blacks had to play out the game one man down. Ruislip sensed an opportunity and in the next ten minutes ran in two converted tries through the thinned-down defence.
Scrum half Matt Wadling’s late converted try at the other end was little consolation in what must go down as a bad defeat for Colchester.
Steve Whiteman