Morale-boosting win for Witham

Essex Merit Table division four

Witham Rugby Club visited a windswept Colchester looking for a morale- boosting win and got it with a six-point victory.

The visitors started well, commanding the bulk of possession and their forwards used the ball well with a series of rucks leading to Josh Taplin crossing to open the scoring.

Doulton Wells converted to open a 7-0 lead and shortly afterwards, Joe Cook burst through the home defence to extend the lead to 12-0.

Colchester rallied and produced a try of their own to close the gap, but Witham used their strong pack to gain possession and release their backs.

With the home defence waiting for the pass out, scrum-half Darryl Warnaar cut through the space for a score that was converted by Wells and late in the half, Cook scored again for Witham.

Having collected the ball deep in his own half, he broke through several tackles to sprint clear and Wells once again slotted the conversion to give a 26-5 half-time lead.

Colchester made a few changes at the break and used the wind in the second half to pin Witham back for most of the 40 minutes.

Witham held firm for about 15 minutes before Colchester managed to force the ball over in the corner.

Further pressure followed and despite Witham defending resolutely, Colchester did breach their defence again.

Witham were hanging on now and Colchester once again scored to bring the scores uncomfortably close, but the referee’s final whistle brought relief for Witham, who can take heart from a well-earned victory.

Their next game is at home on Saturday against Basildon thirds.