Woodford 22 | 47 Colchester 1st XV

On a day of sunshine and showers, Colchester out-scored the home side by seven tries to three, so banking another try bonus point. Promoted Woodford may be finding life in London 1 North tough, but they were no pushovers, their rolling maul a particularly potent weapon.

Colchester again rung the changes in selection. Among those catching the eye were double try-scorer Jamie Miller, centre Nick Flexman and replacement back Connor O'Reilly, while there was a typically efficient contribution from James Crozier who converted all but one of the tries, some from the touchlines.

Colchester 1st XV manager Jon Smith paid tribute to the young squad: "There are five 18-year-olds in that squad today and to cope with the pressure of the expectation which is on them is fantastic. It's another step in the right direction."

Colchester suffered an early setback with full-back Brett Cutbush leaving the field with a hip injury. But it was his replacement O'Reilly whose break set up Army teammate Miller for the first try.

From the restart, a missed tackle led to Woodford levelling the scores, Valerio Branconcini-Phipps galloping in down the left. A long-range penalty attempt by Dave Higgins went narrowly wide, but Colchester soon had their second try, a storming run by Miller whose pass found Harry Pickett.

Woodford pulled back three points with a Tom Redfern penalty but Colchester soon had their third try. From a penalty kick to the corner, the resulting line-out and ruck led to Miller's second.

Leading 21-10 at half-time, Colchester soon had their bonus point, a lovely passage of passing involving many of the backs leading to prop Lewis Jeffery going over.

As the game moved towards its fourth quarter, Woodford enjoyed their best spell, captain Theo Kaltas getting their second try. But any chance of a comeback was swiftly snuffed out as Colchester scored two quick tries - James Mitchell touching down from a stolen line-out, then Alex Burman's long reach taking the visitors’ score to 40.

With Liam Pickett in the sin bin having been adjudged to have taken a man out in the air, Woodford exploited their numerical advantage with a try from a rolling maul. But the deficit in personnel didn't stop Colchester hitting straight back with their seventh try, O'Reilly exploiting non-existent tackling from the tiring Woodford defence.

This wasn't a perfect performance. There will be disappointment at the three tries conceded, while three yellow cards meant Colchester effectively played 30 minutes with 14 men. But The Blacks stay second in the league, four points behind North Walsham who are the visitors to Mill Road on Saturday - a top-of-the-table clash which Smith describes as "the acid test."

"It's going to be one of our season-defining games. Today was a good way to warm up for it."

By Edward Marriage