COLCHESTER Rugby Club notched up 40 unanswered points in a resounding and competent 40-0 victory at Chingford, writes STEVE WHITEMAN.

For the second week running, the Blacks denied their opposition any points due to their excellent defence in this rearranged London One North match versus Chingford.

The Colchester team was similar to the previous Saturday except that tight-head prop Alex Mitchell returned in place of his brother James and debutant Matt Parker took up the left wing position and capped a good performance with a brace of tries.

Coach Rob Pickard was very satisfied with the display although he admitted that halfway through the second half it was “a right merry go round” when hooker Sam Butler went off injured, shortly followed by yellow carded fly half Harry Bureau.

However, the boys off the bench all filled in well to sustain the team momentum.

Chingford kicked off with a stiff breeze at their backs but the Blacks were soon back in their half and were awarded a penalty for a high tackle.

Unfortunately Bureau missed the kick but went on to convert all but one of the six tries that followed.

Man-of-the-match centre, Adam Thomas, scored shortly afterwards under the posts.

Colchester kept up the pressure from the restart with scrum half David Tonge dictating play using his kicking and handling skills well to keep the hosts guessing.

After 20 minutes at a line out Butler’s accurate throw found jumper Alex Burman, who fed Tonge and he dashed down the blind side, offloaded to Parker who claimed his debut try in the corner.

Besides the excellent defence an encouraging feature of the Black’s game was how the backs and forwards linked well together with great mobility when they advanced up the pitch.

After 25 minutes into the match they attacked again and, following a successful line-out, No 8 Harrison Pickett thundered through to score under the posts.

The Blacks finished the first half in style when their superior scrum pushed Chingford’s pack over their try line, the ball was passed back to Bureau who cleverly chipped over the defence for wing Parker to touch down his second try.

Leading 26-0 at the interval and the bonus point secure, Haydn Sykes came off the bench for lock Rory Miller and the match resumed.

But Chingford were not lying down and raised their game for the next 20 minutes battling hard and testing Colchester’s defence to the utmost with their big lock forward and their right winger to the fore.

But the Blacks to a man tackled well and managed to repel several forays into their red zone.

During this period there was a high penalty count against Colchester which didn’t help their cause.

Eventually, after this purple patch by Chingford, Colchester rallied and pushed up to the hosts' try line.

Tonge set off on a mazy run, went past several defenders then offloaded to Joe Flexman on the wing, who scampered over for a fine try to make it 33-0.

Later Bureau kicked deep downfield and skipper Dan Whiteman was unlucky not to touch the ball down.

However in the dying moments from a scrum five, Pickett went blind and scored to seal victory.

Colchester: McMillan, Butler, A. Mitchell, Burman, Miller, Gerard, Whiteman, H.Pickett,Tonge, Bureau,Parker, Cutbush, Thomas, Flexman and Varela. Subs: Dunster, Sykes & Dunning.