In ideal sunny conditions, Colchester had a tremendous victory over visitors Ruislip scoring no less than 15 unanswered tries moving them to the top of the table.

Man-of-the-Match fullback Damien Brambley scored four tries, No 8 Eli Castle three and wing James Crozier two whilst converting six. Changes in the team if anything improved Colchester's performance with lock Alex Burman back from injury, Jack White in at fly-half, Tom Dufficy up from the Ravens at centre and forwards Simon Gray and Toby Hill on the bench.

Credit for this brilliant display must in part go to coaches Lee Soper and Ian Simpson who have been intensely training the forwards and backs since midsummer. The lads kept their shape throughout the game and most importantly kept their discipline for the whole 80 minutes.

Following their kick-off, Colchester were awarded a penalty 5 metres from Ruislip's line. An excellent shove at the scrum put No 8 Eli Castle over for the first try. Ten minutes later Ruislip were pressing forward and won their lineout near Colchester's line. Prop James Mitchell wrestled the ball from their jumper and quick hands got the ball to Brambley who sprinted over for his first try.

Soon after the Blacks advanced into Ruislip's half and turned over their scrum for flanker Ollie Pickett to dive over for another score. Less than twenty minutes of the game had elapsed before Brambley weaved through the opposition to claim the bonus point try.

Ruislip restarted yet again and White fed centre Francois Rossouw on the burst for him to make inroads into the defence. Quick handling got the ball to right wing Dave Brennan who scored the fifth try.

Before half time Colchester added three more tries to bring the score to 46-0. These were scored by Crozier, skipper Liam Pickett and Castle again. Prop Simon Gray had come on for Alex Mitchell and performed well especially in open play.

After the interval Castle got his hat-trick when the Ruislip scrum was shoved back over their line. Director of Rugby O'Riordan rang the changes and Hugo Kellaway, Alex Mitchell and Toby Hill joined the fray. This proved to be effective as the momentum of Colchester was maintained.

Doggedly Ruislip kept going and almost scored in the corner but the defence held firm. The Blacks earned a penalty and Kellaway kicked deep with the pack in pursuit. Gray charged down the wing, fed Brambley who claimed his hat-trick.

58-0 but the coaches were urging Colchester to add more points. The team duly obliged, with Rossouw claiming his first senior try, Burman finishing a good team move and then Crozier running the length of the field to score his second.

It was now 75-0 but Ruislip never gave up despite being outmatched by Colchester's speed and power. Soon another turnover ball was moved right to Hill who ran 30 metres to score in the corner. In the dying moments of the game, Colchester attacked again with flankers Pickett and Danny Whiteman racing forward before offloading to Brambley to score his fourth and the final try.

Steve Whiteman