Colchester moved into second place in the league with a 43-8 win over North Walsham, in London League divison one north.

But head coach Danny Johnston says his team aren’t getting carried away by their early-season success.

First-half tries by Ollie Pickett, Dave Philp and Simon Parkinson, added to a conversion and two penalties by James Crozier gave Colchester a 23-3 half-time lead.

They built on that after the break with tries by prop Graeme Hay and Charlie Thorogood giving a comprehensive win.

Johnston said: “It was an amazing win and it’s so nice to see a team that is finally playing with its tail up, playinh with confidence and scoring quality tries.

“We have a far more consistent approach now and are playing some really intelligent rugby as an organised unit.

“But we aren’t getting carried away.

“Part of our success has come from focusing on our performances rather than results.

“If you do that then results look after themselves, but it is always a nice feeling to be winning, especially against opposition of the quality we have in this league.

“This is a tough league and we know anyone can beat anyone else so we have to take it game by game.

“We are developing all the time, but there are strong teams in the league with us and as we develop, so will they.

“We can’t get ahead of ourselves and need to keep the players focused.”

One thing that is keeping Colchester’s players on their toes is the competition for places in their first-team and Johnston said there is pressure being put on them by players performing well in the seconds.

He added: “We are fortunate to have a group of friends who happen to play rugby together and the group dynamic is something we have been happy to tap into.

“But the ones are being pushed by the twos because they are picking up some good form.

“They beat Thurrock seconds last weekend, which is a fantastic result and shows they are putting pressure on the first team players.

“We are getting a few selection headaches and the players are aware of that.

“All the players at the club have responded so well to how we are doing things and they are making it very enjoyable for us as a coaching unit, but a huge amount of credit goes to the players themselves.”