Colchester advanced from fourth to third place in the league after an emphatic victory over bottom placed South Woodham Ferrers winning by eleven tries to one . Kicker James Crozier was on good form converting 9 of the 11 tries, one of which he scored himself.

As both flanker Danny Whiteman and lock Eli Castle were unavailable, Harrison Pickett joined his two brothers in the pack and Rory Miller made a welcome return in the second row. Colchester kicked off and soon won a penalty when a Woodham player deliberately knocked the ball on, Crozier converted putting 3 points on the board after only ten minutes.

Soon after Ollie Pickett ran through the home defence to claim his first try. Shortly after Colchester won another lineout and he attacked again, offloading to centre George Liversidge who claimed the Blacks’ second try. It was now 17-0 with 25 minutes gone. Colchester’s scrum were dominating the set pieces and when the referee awarded them a penalty after a typical surge forward lock Joe Colcomb piled over the line to bring the lead to 24-0.

There was a further setback for Woodham when they had a player yellow carded for deliberate obstruction. Later their fullback made a mark upon catching Wadling’s box kick but Colchester gained possession and fullback Brett Cutbush linked well with flanker Rob Pickard who fed Hartley who raced in for his first try. Just before half time he scored again having received a fine pass by fly half Jack White.

Colchester were in the lead by 38 unanswered points at the interval and coach Anthony O’Riordan rang the changes. Skipper Liam Pickett, centre Will Brown and Hartley were replaced by Rory Miller, Joe Flexman and Charlie Thorogood off the bench.

Woodham restarted and soon Ollie Pickett’s direct running paid off as he claimed his hat trick. Colchester were on a roll now and before long, Flexman offloaded a superb mid-tackle pass to wing Shelford Meads who did a delightful, mazy run through the defence to score under the posts. Shortly after fleet-footed Crozier put Wadling over for his first try bring the lead to 57 points.

Then a lapse of concentration let Woodham’s left wing in for a breakaway try which was converted giving the hosts 7 points. Back came Colchester, galvanised by this setback, pressing towards Woodham’s line. The defence were awarded a scrum but flanker Harrison Pickett tackled their No 9 and Wadling seized the ball to score his second try bringing the score to 62-7.

Colchester were now firing on all cylinders and, as the clock ran down, scored two more tries, firstly by Crozier after a strong run by Rory Miller and then Ollie Pickett claiming his third just before the full time whistle blew.
Steve Whiteman