Colchester A XV 48 Mistley RFC 10

The Unbeaten A’s faced a strong Mistley first team at home for their first win in a tough February.

The last time the two teams met was at Mistley where the A’s won in a challenging fixture against a Mistley side who were very comfortable playing at home, the scoreline : Mistley 19 Colchester 31.

The A’s went into the game top of the table but with news that Harwich had been given 5 points from an Ipswich YM cancellation made them only 2 points behind. The A’s treated the game like all other games this season; a ‘must win’.

The conditions at Mill Road were not ideal for running quick rugby the A’s are so lethal at, and if anything suited Mistley’s big forwards to crash the ball up. From the kick off Colchester showed their intent with Will Foster smashing the Mistley defence backwards. The first five minutes were tentative much like any game, each team testing one another out. However, like most teams you have to win your own set pieces to have a shot at the game, Mistley failed to do so and were being sent back in the scrums only for Dave Lawrence to pick up and charge at them, after being pinned down in our own 22. The crucial break came from blindside flanker James West after line breaks from Mike Howlett and Dean Morgan, he grubbered the ball through only for it to pop up from the floor for him to dive over the line. Successful conversion by Dave Calver [same initials as Dan Carter (no connection)] under the posts.

After this try the A’s found a way of piercing the Mistley defence and began to open the floodgates, some hard lines set up by Mike, Jon Perry and Dean ensured Mistley couldn’t keep us away from the gain line. For Dave Lawrence’s try we are grateful that there were cameras there to record this as it is up with contention for Samsung’s try of the Month. A chip and chase set up by Dave Calver just in our own 10 metre line, Dave Lawrence chased after, kicking the ball instead of picking it up (naturally) kicked it to their 10 metre line then their 22,and furthermore their 5m line before diving on it. Like I said you really have to see this to believe it.

After spending the first 5 minutes camped in our own 22 Mistley never got close again with immense defence from everyone. The pressure and impenetrable defence forced the turnovers to which the ball was then shipped wide for wingers Sam Shouksmith and Matt Parker to get us back into Mistley’s half. We ran through our phases with Sam Hopkins making the occasional snipe with Graham MacCallum in almost every ruck. With the forwards, drawing their defence in the ball was then shipped out wide for John Perry to score. Almost 5 minutes later an almost identical score again. Mistley struggled to get any ball to their wingers with big hits coming in from Dean and Jordan Gale, but struggled even more winning their own scrums and line outs with James West and Will Foster disrupting their lineouts and the front row of Ben Bates, Graham MacCallum and Jack Buxton pushing their scum over.

The second half saw Mistley playing into the wind, but somehow better playing better, kicking for territory saw them over the try line twice, but their fly half missing both conversion attempts. Colchester came back strong with a perfect line taken by James West to set up Dave Calver starting from just inside our own half. Mistley eventually started getting the ball to their centres but were stopped in their tracks by all the backs, making dominant tackles sending them backwards. Colchester did the same, shipping the ball out wide to Sam and Matt, both cutting inside and beating several defenders to set up tries offloading in contact. Substitutes Liam JS, ‘Doghead’ and Stan helped see the game out with fresh legs and big hits, Liam also side stepping into the scorebook with a well worked try set up by Matt Parker; coming off his wing to draw in two defenders then offload in contact to Liam for him to easily step round the full back and under the posts. The final try of the game was once again set up by James West with a piercing line through the tired defence, drawing the last man who put a big hit on him just getting the ball away to Sam Hopkins for the last try and final play of the game.

Thank you to the Colchester Institute students who filmed the game, and Will’s Dad who took photos but also everyone who turned up and watched the undefeatables.

Importantly though a huge game is upon the A’s who face second in the table Harwich away! The A’s could do with as much support as possible as this is the biggest test of their season and would continue their unbeaten run further!