In our latest round-up of the local rugby action, there’s fine wins for Colchester, Stowmarket and Woodbridge, plus a 136-0 romp for Hadleigh and a dominant display from the Bury Foxes.
London One North
COLCHESTER returned from a trip to Borehamwood with a cracking 22-21 win over Old Haberdashers to move back up to second in the league.
David Higgins gave the visitors an early 7-0 lead, only for a penalty try to level matters.
An interception try then saw OH take a 14-7 lead into half-time.
Man of the match Damien Brambley got Colchester back within two with a fine effort, only for the home side to the home side to grab a third try.
Back came Colchester again, Ollie White crossing to make it 21-19 to Haberdashers.
And, with the minutes ticking away, Higgins slotted a crucial penalty to give Colchester the win.
Meanwhile, SUDBURY were also on their travels, but returned from Southend on the wrong end of a 34-5 drubbing by the Saxons.
Jonny Taylor scored the only try for Sudbury in their first visit to Southend for 30 years – and they may not want to return for another 30!
It was a bad day too for DISS, who were thumped 79-14 at HAC RFC.
Shaun Blyth and John Bergin scored the tries for Diss.
London Two North East
STOWMARKET enjoyed a thrilling 19-15 win at second-placed Saffron Walden, having shocked the home side with an early try from Dotun Ogunkeyede.
Walden battled back to add a try and a penalty before half-time, and led 8-5 at the break.
In an end-to-end second stanza, Alex Lancaster gave Stow the lead again, only for Walden to hit back with a converted try to regain the lead.
But Stow were not to be denied, Lancaster scoring a wonderful individual try to win the game.
Elsewhere, SOUTHWOLD were beaten 52-24 at Basildon, a woeful display from the Suffolk side allowing their Essex foes to enjoy their first win of the season.
Luke Wade grabbed a try to level matters at 7-7 early on, but then the game then simply fell apart for ‘Wold, who were dominated in the scrum.
Jacob English and James Hall scored late consolation tries, but overall it was a humilating afternoon at the office for the Suffolk side.
IPSWICH were also defeated, 29-15 at Wanstead, having taken the lead through an early try from Chris Kolapo-Ajala. Disaster struck though, with the scores level at 5-5, as Tim Mann was alleged to have punched one of the opposition players and shown a straght red card.
And, with a man advantage, Wanstead stormed into a 29-5 lead.
Kolapo-Ajala added a second try, and Kandemwa crossed too, but it was far too little too late for Ipswich.
London Three Eastern Counties
WOODBRIDGE travelled to THURSTON and came home with a 19-17 victory.
The Warriors dominated territory in the first half but the home defence was outstanding conceding only one try when Jeff Buchanan broke the tension and scored on 38 minutes.
The second half saw Thurston bash their way back when centre Ed Ballam was finally rewarded for his hard work with two tries followed by another from fly-half Jamie Drury.
For the second week running Woodbridge had to dig deep in the dying moments and this time it was wing Ryan Ramplin who scored wide, before Jono Cooke rounded off a sustained attack, peppered with penalties, to win the tight contest with a try on the last play of the match.
London Three Essex
CHELMSFORD snatched a 18-14 win at the King’s Cross Steelers, with Paul Redford and Tommy Taylor scoring the tries and Jordan Ayling notching the kicks which won the game.
Rivals BRAINTREE, meanwhile, were beaten 38-12 at Ilford Wanderers, their fourth defeat of the season. Neil Richards and Rob Oakley scored Tree’s tries.
Eastern Counties One
HADLEIGH ran in an astounding 20 tries as they utterly crushed Harwich & Dovercourt II 136-0.
Dom Manthorpe, Merlin Lawrence and Tom Linge all scored on multiple occasions, while Jake Kerr converted eighteen tries and added a score of his own to accrue 41 points on the day.
Women
The BURY FOXES romped to a 59-0 win in a top-of-the-table clash at West Norfolk. Louisa Honeybun, EJ Stearn (two), Chantelle Higgins, Danni Lee, Robyn Gordon (two) and Lucy Kerr (two) crosssed for the Foxes.
And the CHELMSFORD BLUEBIRDS soared to a 27-19 win against Lakenham Hewitt, with Marcys Jackowska, Annie Coulson, and Zoe Wager scoring the tries and Stefania Evans slotting home important kicks.
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