Here’s our round-up of the latest local rugby action, including Colchester, Chelmsford, Southwold, Sudbury, Stowmarket, Ipswich, Braintree, Ipswich YM and Woodbridge.
London One North
COLCHESTER enjoyed a massive victory at home against Ruislip, crushing the visitors 87-0.
The home side ran in 15 unanswered tries in a win which saw them climb to the summit of the early league table.
Man-of-the-match Damien Brambley scored four tries, Eli Castle grabbed three and James Crozier nabbed a brace while converting six of the scores.
Ollie Pickett, Dave Brennan, Liam Pickett, Francois Roussow, Alex Burman and Toby Hill were the other scorers in the big Colchester win.
Elsewhere, DISS lost 31-26 at Luton in a back-and-forth affair, with man of the match John Laurie and captain John Bergin in fine form.
Diss try scorers were Bergin and a brace from Jorge Serruys.
London Two North East
Newly-promoted SOUTHWOLD made it two wins from two with an excellent 17-14 victory on the road at Norwich.
While once the idea of even being in the same league as their Norfolk rivals was a dream, in this match ‘Wold proved that they belong at this new level.
Wold took the lead when Jacob English muscled his way over in the corner, but the conversion was misssed and the score remained at 5-0 until half-time.
Ater Norwich came out strongly in the second half, Southwold repelled their advances and scored their second try as slick passing saw Richard Thickett crash over, with Luke Wade converting to make it 12-0.
Back came Norwich as Des Brett was sin-binned and Norwich crossed to make it 12-7.
With just six minutes to go, Norwich scored again to make it 14-12 with the conversion and it all looked lost for Wold.
But amazingly that man Brett, back on after his ten-minute penalty, forced his way over for the winning try as time ran out.
Elsewhere, fellow promoted side STOWMARKET sprung an upset against IPSWICH, winning 45-31 at home. Stow started strongly and were three tries up after 20 minutes through Dotun Ogunkeyede, James Simpson and James Hewett.
Ipswich fought back through Chris Blom and a brace for Josh Hayward, trailing 20-19 at the break.
In the second half, Stow surged ahead again, Cory Brown and Dan Garrard crossing, only for Ipswich to fight back to 35-31.
But Stow struck the killer blows through Bob Birch and Dan Garrard, plus a key penalty.
Finally, SUDBURY lost 37-22 at North Walsham. Tom Summers, Shaun Smith (two) were the try scorers for the West Suffolk side.
London Three East/Essex
Newly-promoted IPSWICH YM enjoyed a 17-15 win over WOODBRIDGE. The Warriors led 9-5 at the break, with Barney Horsefield grabbing the try for YM.
After another Woodbridge penalty to start the second half, YM crossed again through Jamie Everson, who went over in the corner to make it 12-10.
And with just five minutes to go, another penalty for Woodbridge gave them a 15-10 lead.
Woodbridge continued to push to seal the game but they knocked on in near the centre of the pitch, the YM back row pounced on the ball and the counter attack saw the ball sent to Everson on the wing who broke the line. This break-through led to Ryan “Woody” Wood touching down over the line. Horsefield then converted to give the YM a 17-15 lead, which proved decisive.
In London Three Essex, there was a huge grudge match between BRAINTREE and CHELMSFORD, who met at the latter for the first Lang Cup match in several years, in memory of late Chelmsford player Bob Lang.
Braintree led 3-0 at half-time of a close and hard-fought game. Winger Tom Drew then scored to make it 10-0 to ‘tree, before Chelmsford bounced back to level matters at 10-10 through two Paul Redford tries.
The conversion attempt for the second try was key, as Ed Wild held his nerve with all eyes on him to win the game 12-10.
Women
The BURY FOXES won 89-5 over Lakenham Hewitt to start their league season in incredible style, ahead of the visit of Woodbridge on September 30.
Elsewhere, CHELMSFORD lost 36-7 at home to Stanford Le-Hope, with Emily Acorn scoring the try and Karly Harrington nailing the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here