COLCHESTER U17s 27 SHELFORD U17s 16

Eastern Counties Cup final

COLCHESTER Rugby club’s under-17s won the Eastern Counties Cup against an impressive Shelford team.

Shelford’s reputation went before them and it was clear that both sides were suffering from nerves early on as scoring opportunities were spurned.

Shelford did make the breakthrough from a penalty after Charlie Hayes-Burt had been lost to a yellow card for tackling in the air.

Colchester defended well but Shelford made the man advantage count with an unconverted try.

However, they were left to regret not making further scores and Colchester ended the half with a try under the posts by Hayes-Burt, which was converted by Sam Edwards to reduce the deficit to one point at the break.

The hosts had the wind advantage in the second half and went ahead when a tap penalty was carried forward by James West and the pass to Euan Arnold was well-timed as the prop went over.

Edwards converted from out wide and it was 17-8 a few minutes later after he slotted a penalty kick over.

Shelford showed their quality by continuing to threaten into the face of the wind and a Colchester team playing with confidence and they were helped when Arnold was yellow carded for contact in the air.

An unconverted try and a penalty brought them to within a point of Colchester with 15 minutes to go, but the hosts managed to pull ahead in the latter stages.

Shelford lost a man for the last ten minutes after a high tackle on Adam Chamberlain and they were made to pay as Hayes-Burt went over for his second try.

With three minutes to go, number eight Will Sizer capped a fine display by stealing the ball at a Shelford lineout and crashing through to score in the corner to make the final score 27-16.

Colchester: Euan Arnold, Matt Tripp, Dale Hubbard, Jack Dufficy, Jack Edwards, Will Johnson, Dylan Caleno, Adam Smith, Tom Bailey, Will Sizer, James West, Charles Hayes-Burt, Mark Burch, Jack Martin, Sam Edwards, Julian Chamberlain, Adam Chamberlain, Sam James, Alex D’Andrea, Lloyd Pinnell, Alex Hindle, Adam Richardson.