Colchester travelled to Buckinghamshire to take on Amersham & Chiltern at their windy ground and came away with a bonus point win, further securing their second place in the league. The Blacks scored 4 tries whilst Chiltern claimed 2 in a highly competitive match.

Early on substitute Tom Dales came on to replaced injured hooker Dan Brennan and put in a good shift, as did debutant Sol Hyde at outside centre who ran and tackled his young heart out earning him the Man-of-the-Match award. Mention must also be made of Toby Hill who played in the unaccustomed loosehead position and did a fine job.

Before long in the game Colchester were awarded a penalty as the home No 8 Jordan Scott was offside and yellow-carded. Fly-half Brett Cutbush kicked to touch in the corner and the Black pack drove the resulting lineout over the try line but the referee deemed that the ball was held up. From the resulting 5 metre scrum Colchester drove forward and earned a penalty try putting them 7 points in the lead.

For the next half hour, advantage swung one way and another with many handling errors by both sides. Just before half time, Chiltern broke through the cover for their right wing Dave John to score a good unconverted try. So honours were even at the interval with the score close at 5-7.

After a stern talking to by their coaches Colchester upped their game in the second half improving their handling and dominating the set pieces using the strength of the front five and excellent foraging by the back row. This yielded dividends as they kept advancing into Chiltern's half until, following a successful scrum, No 9 Matt Wadling linked with Cutbush who fed inside centre Brock Price who tore through to score by the posts. Wing James Crozier converted putting the Blacks 5-14 ahead.

But Chiltern were not going to lie down and pressed forward from the restart, quickly moved the ball to John who claimed his second try. Fly-half Mony Weatherall added the extras closing the gap to 12-14.

Later Colchester were given a penalty on halfway and Cutbush kicked the ball to the hosts' 22 touch. Executing a preplanned move hooker Dales linked with skipper and flanker Danny Whiteman who sped through the cover to score a fine try putting Colchester back on the front foot.

Continued pressure against the home side from the likes of props James Mitchell and Hill, locks Ollie White and Alex Burman and the Pickett brothers enabled Wadling to feed his backs regularly with centres Hyde and Price making inroads into the Chiltern defence and wings Crozier and Harry Barton also making ground as often did full back Damien Brambley. After a successful scrum, Wadling kicked the ball through, claimed it back and fed Harrison Pickett for the vital fourth score. Crozier converted and the visitors ended the game as worthy winners 12-26.

Steve Whiteman