Colchester A XV vs Mersea 2's

Colchester A XV had their second home fixture of the season against Mersea 2's. The opposition started the game dominating the breakdown and forced Colchester into a number of turnovers, and penalties were given for hands in the ruck very early on in the game.

Colchester's first try came 7 minutes into the game after the full back gave a well-timed offload to front row Graham who dived through the gap with little resistance.
A breakdown in communication on the Mersea restarts meant Colchester couldn't get the pace of the game going for a few more minutes. The next try came from centre Martyn Bloomfield of a carbon copy of his first try last week. Dave Calver converted.

After conceding a penalty in the scrum, Mersea kicked to clear their lines but couldn't find touch. Winger Adam carried the ball from deep and after a number of offloads finds number 7; Patrick who runs the ball in under the posts.

Colchester proved their ability to play from set pieces shortly after the restart, a well-planned move ended up with the full back scoring a try 28 minutes into the game.

Mersea continued to dominate the breakdown and Colchester found themselves with a battle on their hands to keep possession. They increased the intensity to keep Mersea at bay for the remainder of the half.

Early into the second half and Winger Adam caught a long pass from the 10 and sailed through the gap in Mersea's defence to score. Dave Calver (fly half) pulled off a great set piece move with the number 8 off a scrum to score by the posts and convert.

Gary Palmer continued to put pressure on Mersea and kicked the ball from the back of a ruck, he then followed this and linked up with Patrick who scored by the posts.

After a few substitutions and a replacement fly half settled down into their positions, but not before Mersea took advantage of an overlap and went over to score an unconverted try.

The second half continued with Mersea putting pressure on at the breakdown and Colchester dominating the running game. the final try of the game came from a quick tap and go penalty from the number 8 who dragged the remaining defenders into centre field before a wide pass to Chris Hanfrey on the wing gave him an easy run to score a try.

Mersea worked hard from start to finish of a tough fixture, and took the loss with their heads held high.

Colchester A XV look forward to their first away game next Saturday.