As rugby returns after Christmas, our round-up of the local action features wins for Colchester, Diss, Stowmarket, Ipswich YM, Chelmsford, Hadleigh, the Bury Foxes and the Woodbridge Amazons.
London One North
COLCHESTER picked up where they left off before Christmas, winning 38-22 at Ruislip.
Dan Brennan scored from 30 metres to give them the advantage, before Ruislip crossed to level. But Harry Barton’s effort gave Colchester the lead, 12-5, at the break.
Brennan added a second after the break, followed by Kevin Tavainavesi, and soon the score was 26-5 Colchester.
James Crozier and Brett Cutbush added further tries as the north Essex side cruised to victory.
Elsewhere, SUDBURY were beaten 30-12 by third-placed North Walsham in an entertaining game at home.
Jake Sumner and Sam Maile got the tries for the home side, who really took the game to their high-flying foes and played attractive rugby throughout the game - but were undone by some basic errors.
DISS grabbed their first win of the season though, crushing Luton 40-19. Chris Beaird and Freddie Precious both grabbed braces, while Michael Jones and John Laurie added further scores.
London Two North
STOWMARKET saw off Cantabs 29-8 in a game which was closer than the score suggests.
Joe Lancaster, James Simpson, Doton Ogunkeyede, Brad Durrant and Jack Haward scored the tries, with Dan Garrard adding two conversions for Stow, who remain third in the league and host fourth-placed Norwich this weekend.
SOUTHWOLD were beaten 41-17 on the road at table-toppers Woodford, the home side’s superior fitness playing a key role.
Cemil Duruk gave ‘Wold the lead, but the home side responded with a double to make it 10-5.
Back came the Suffolk side, Ben Felton making it 12-10 with a fine try. However, Woodford scored to make it 17-12 at the break and then simply pulled away to lead 41-12 after 62 minutes.
Darius Mullen added a third try for ‘Wold, but they couldn’t grab the bonus point try.
London Three Eastern Counties
Bottom of the table IPSWICH YM had a fantastic win, upsetting league leaders Holt 29-27.
The inspired Suffolk side led 14-3 at the half, courtesy of a Tommy Hale try and a pushover effort, before Holt stormed back to lead 27-14 and it looked as though YM were beaten.
But Hale crosssed again, and the fightback was on. From the restart, fast hands got the ball to Cory Parfitt, who ran 60 metres, only to be tackled on the Holt line, with Eliot Chilvers on hand to seize the ball and touch down.
Now just a point behind, and with time running out, YM were awarded a penalty which Simon Arnold calmly slotted home to win the game.
London Three Essex
CHELMSFORD thrashed Millwall 80-0, running in 12 tries, ten of which were converted.
Jimmy Allway, who only came on at half-time, scored four of the tries, with Callum Booth, Marcus Pottinger, Jack Acorn (two), Jordan Ayling, Tom Alligan, Ross Toomey and Joel Young adding the others.
Chelmsford host Canvey this weekend.
Meanwhile, BRAINTREE were beaten 10-8 at the aforementioned Canvey, bringing an end to their recent good form.
Lloyd Hardin’s try and Josh Wadforth’s penalty were the only scores for ‘Tree.
Eastern Counties One
HADLEIGH’s remarkable unbeaten season continued with a 31-26 win over the IPSWICH MAGPIES, which means they have won the division.
But for the first 20 minutes of the game they were the whipping boys, with the Magpies flying out to an early 19-0 lead.
Hadleigh battled back to 19-12 at the break, Merlin Lawrence and Charlie Eaden crossing, before they showed exactly why they are unbeaten all season in the second half.
They dominated possession and secured several vital turnovers. Tries from Henry Nicholls, Lawrence and Shawn Van Rensburg and two Jake Kerr conversions sealed the victory. A late try from Ipswich gave them a two bonus point consolation.
Hadleigh will try to finish their season as one of the few unbetaen teams in the whole country when they travel to Bury this weekend.
Women
The BURY FOXES stayed top of Women’s National Championships East 1, beating SOUTHWOLD 51-0 on the road to make it eight wins from eight games this season.
Robyn Gordon scored four tries, Em Gattlin added two and Emily Ahern, Chantelle Higgins and Abi Kegge all crossed for the Foxes.
Elsewhere, the WOODBRIDGE AMAZONS saw off Stanford le hope Sirens 27-24. Claire Brickley scored a dramatic winner as part of her hat-trick of tries, with Carmel Roisin and Morven McAlpine also crossing.
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