National League 3 London & SE Guernsey 22 Colchester 10 Colchester’s scrum struggled to settle in the first 20 minutes resulting in a couple of penalties which Guernsey eventually worked to their advantage, scoring the first try of the game off the back of a collapsed scrum.

The conversion swirled in the wind and missed the posts, so Guernsey had a 5-0 lead.

Colchester were quick with their response, winning the restart and playing the expansive rugby they’ve been searching for in recent games.

With Ed Parry working well at scrum-half, the Blacks played quick ball, outwitting their opponents and finding the overlap which saw Jaid Wiltshire shoot over the try line.

James Crozier, above, stepped up to the tee and secured Colchester the extra points pushing them in front, the visitors now leading 7-5.

For the remainder of the first half Colchester’s discipline let them down, giving away penalties and a short-handed try, going 15-7 down before Crozier slotted a penalty to make the half-time score 15-10.

The second half was a war of attrition, with Wiltshire being knocked out of the game by a high tackle, before a rare Colchester fumble saw the hosts capitalise to score a converted try in the corner and make it 22-10.

Colchester needed another score to earn themselves at least a losing bonus point, but it was not to be.

With both sides fairly evenly matched it was ill discipline that was Colchester’s ultimate demise, something that can easily be put right before their final game of 2015 at London Irish next weekend.