Colchester travelled to Southend expecting a tough away game and so it proved to be. They led at the interval after a scrappy first half by both sides, the hosts had a purple patch in the third quarter drawing level before the Blacks eventually clicked into gear to come out the winners.
In the absence of flanker Dan Whiteman and centre Joe Flexman due to work commitments, Oly Pickett and George Liversidge took their place and performed well. Damien Brambley once again proved a constant threat weaving through the Saxon defence. However, it was only in the last quarter of the game that the Blacks really got their act together to gain a hard fought victory.

Under an overcast sky the Saxons kicked off and soon won a penalty. Their fly half Tom Ramsey was unlucky to just miss the kick whereas, five minutes later, his opposite number, David Higgins, was successful with his first penalty attempt. The hosts restarted and, following a Colchester scrum, a defender was deemed offside and Higgins added another penalty putting the visitors 6 points ahead.

Later Brambley broke through the home defence, offloaded to Liversidge who linked with captain Brock Price and once tackled, scrum half Brett Cutbush recycled the ball quickly to dart over for a converted try with 20 minutes gone. The rest of the half was an unedifying spectacle as both sides botched lineout throws and frequently dropped passes. Only the scrums were solid with the Blacks constantly driving their opponents backwards but only making advances when they chose to run straight not sideways.

The score stayed at 0-13 until half time when Liam Pickett came on for Ollie White to join Alex Burman in the second row though Man-of-the-Match White would return later to improve the lineout jumping. Saxons threw everything they had at Colchester for the next 20 minutes and the Blacks had to tackle well to keep them out. Wing James Crozier got yellow carded for retaliation and Ramsey converted the awarded penalty.
Further indiscipline by the Blacks led to them giving away another penalty and Ramsey's attempt bounced back off the post into the hands of his following team mates who crossed the line to score a converted try bringing the score closer at 10-13.

The Blacks reshuffled their backs bringing on Matt Wadling to scrum half, moving Cutbush to fullback and Brambley to outside centre. But they were still giving away too many penalties and then, to crown it all, No 8 Harrison Pickett was red carded for a dangerous tackle. Despite Crozier returning to the fray, Colchester were down to 14 men and, to add to their woes, Saxons drew level 13-13 with a well taken penalty.
In the final quarter Colchester raised their game with first Higgins converting a penalty, then flanker Brock Price scoring from the back of a successful scrum five metres from the hosts' line. In the dying moments of the game, Colchester won a defensive scrum and used their pace to run the length of the field in a brilliant piece of interplay for Higgins to score and convert the final try.

Steve Whiteman