Woodbridge Colts defeated Colchester 31-0 to win the Eastern Counties Colts Cup at Hatchley Barn, on Sunday, to complete the first of a potential cup treble.
Woodbridge now play Brentwood in the National Plate final at Bedford next weekend, before completing what has been a remarkable season, with the LV final the following week.
Having lost out to the Essex heavyweights in various age group finals over the years, the Suffolk side were, on this occasion, too strong for the visitors scoring four unanswered tries.
Kicking off with a light breeze behind them, Woodbridge pressed from the outset and, with Colchester unable to clear their lines, were rewarded with a penalty converted by Jack Johnson.
Minutes later the same player successfully converted his own try, after a searing break through the middle, to extend the home team’s lead to 10-0.
Colchester then exerted some extended pressure of their own, with the hard-running Will Blakemore proving difficult to put down.
A series of forward charges led to a penalty near the posts which, unfortunately for the visitors, was missed by Jack O’Sullivan.
This proved expensive when scrum-half Hugo Kelleway wriggled over shortly after and when Johnson chipped to regather under the posts minutes later.
The home side had a 24-0 lead at the break.
If Woodbridge had the upper hand behind the scrum, there was more parity up front, with the back-row engaged in a ding-dong battle at the break down, Sam Garrington and Jacob Seabrook to the fore for the home team and Francois Rossouw stealing ball for the visitors.
Aldis Salavejs was a willing runner for the Woodbridge forwards whilst full-back Henry Dewar ran back any loose kicks with interest.
The second half saw a further try by Jack Moody, arguably the best team try of the day with the ball passing through six sets of hands. A further penalty by Johnston completed the scoring.
Woodbridge closed out the game via some terrific committed defence with skipper Lewis Jacobs and Hugo Fairbanks-Weston to the fore.
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 The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.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