At their sunny but cold Mill Road ground Colchester gained a comfortable bonus point victory over mid-table Chiltern winning by seven tries to the visitors' two and a penalty.

The backs were well orchestrated by Man-of-the-Match scrum half Brett Cutbush and fly half David Higgins who both picked up a try in the process. Led by flanker Dan Whiteman the Blacks gradually asserted their authority over Chiltern as the game progressed. Props Jerone Awesu and Simon Gray deputised well for the absent Mitchell brothers whilst the new centre combination of Tom Dufficy and Joe Beckett tackled their hearts out stopping the visitors attacks down the middle of the pitch. All three substitutes -Alex Burman, Joe Flexman and Tom Dales -came off the bench in the second half giving fresh impetus to the team effort.

Colchester's forwards matched their heavier opponents in the tight but outclassed them in the loose. Poor throwing in at the lineouts by the visitors gifted several turnovers to the Blacks which they used to good effect.

Higgins kicked off into a stiff breeze and Chiltern came back at Colchester to begin 10 minutes of competitive rugby. Then great interplay by Dufficy, White and wing James Crozier saw the latter go over for the first try of the game. Shortly after Awesu was yellow carded for offside and the home side were reduced to 14 men. No 8 Brock Price moved to the front row where his strength helped Colchester keep the scrums even.

Later a botched lineout by Chiltern saw a long throw intercepted by Higgins who offloaded to Cutbush who sped over for a converted try under the posts. With half an hour gone the Blacks were 12 points up but were soon penalised for not releasing the ball. The Chiltern scrum half kicked for goal and, despite the ball bouncing off both posts. secured 3 points.

Towards the end of the first half hooker Dan Brennan linked well with lock Ollie White, the ball was moved to Higgins who chipped over the defence for Harrison Pickett to gather and score making it 19-3 at the interval.

Awesu and lock Alex Burman joined the fray at the start of the second half with Burman making a clean catch of Chiltern's restart kick, feeding Whiteman who raced forward and linked well with Crozier for him to claim his second try in the corner almost before Chiltern had realised the game had restarted.

Chiltern rallied and good interplay by their backs put their centre over for a well-worked try in the corner. This slight setback seemed to galvanise Colchester and over the following 20 minutes they scored 3 good tries. The first followed a good break by Flexman who offloaded to Higgins whose pace outstripped the defence for him to score and convert a classy try. Then excellent team work got the ball twice to fullback Damien Brambley who used his pace to claim a brace of tries.

The Blacks were now 43-8 ahead but Chiltern's fullback got a consolation try just before the referee called time on this thrilling match.

Steve Whiteman