Colchester Rugby Club see off Hertford

Colchester scored five tries in the 31-19 victory, their first win in five league games against Hertford, who have had a weirdly mixed start to the season.

After a reasonably even first half during which Colchester were disappointed to concede two soft tries, the hosts dominated after the break, keeping Hertford pointless until added time.

“Chuffed to bits,” was the reaction of head coach Craig Burrows, who pointed to Colchester’s fast start, Harrison Pickett touching down from a rolling maul inside five minutes.

David Higgins converted, but Hertford were soon level, scrum-half David Hale taking a quick tap penalty to scamper over.

From a line-out and another good rolling maul the referee awarded a penalty try to Colchester and sent Herford’s lock to the bin where he joined their centre who had already seen yellow.

Despite being two men down, Hertford soon had their second try, a cross-field kick finding wing Matisse Sorce wide out right.

Colchester re-established a seven-point lead on the half-hour. The move was started by the tireless Danny Whiteman with the ball going through plenty of hands before Cam Kerr touched down.

A knee injury forced Higgins off to be replaced by Corey Button, Colchester turning round 19-12 ahead.

With Hertford’s line-out misfiring, Colchester took control after the break.

The bonus point came when Jacob Bodkin smartly intercepted deep in Colchester territory and sprinted 70 metres to the line, Button converting.

With Jerone Awusi on for James Mitchell, Colchester had their fifth midway through the half, Sam Butler’s break ending with Whiteman’s dash over the whitewash.

With Connor O’Reilly in the bin for a high tackle, Hertford finally got on the board in the second half through Adam Drew’s try.

George Liversidge, who had replaced Bodkin, also saw yellow for a high tackle, but Colchester were home and dry.

Burrows has rightly shown himself to be a hard man to please, and the coach was disappointed with the tries conceded, especially when Hertford had men in the bin and at the end when Colchester had a chance to keep them scoreless in the second half.

“We should have been a lot smarter through that passage of play instead of trying to get hands in the ruck,” said Burrows.

“There’s still loads to work on but it’s getting better and better every week. There are a lot of positives and if we can kick on we’ll be in a good place.”

Burrows also praised debut scrum-half Matty Mellish, signed this week from Shelford.

Back row forwards Harrison Pickett and Danny Whiteman were named men-of-the-match by sponsors Whitehall and the coaches respectively, an appropriate recognition of the significant part played by the pack.

On Saturday, Colchester go to Tunbridge Wells who are level on points with the Blacks having also won four from seven matches.

The Ravens celebrated a terrific 29-14 bonus point win at Sudbury seconds but Colchester thirds came up short, at home to Mersea.

Colchester: Taylor, O’Reilly, Bodkin, Thomas, Flexman, Higgins, Mellish; McMillan, Butler, J Mitchell, L Pickett, Easton (C), Kerr, Whiteman, H Pickett. Reps: Awesu, Button, Liversidge.