Colchester Rugby Club’s UNDER-19s have been handed a home draw against Richmond in the fourth round of the National Colts Cup after they cruised past Westcliff with a 56-11 win on the road in the third round.

Having been beaten in an early season friendly encounter by Westcliff, Colchester travelled with slight trepidation, but they had no cause for concern.

Colchester’s forwards showed their intentions from the start and an early drive allowed Callum Jones to pick up from the back of a scrum and go over for a 5-0 lead.

Westcliff responded with a penalty and a try, but a Matt Barnes penalty restored parity, before Gregor Irvine took a quick tap and offloaded the ball to Alex Pakenham-Walsh, who crashed over to score and make it 13-8 to the visitors.

Westcliff kept coming back and another penalty was converted by the home side, but Colchester took an 18-11 lead into half-time when Liam Surgett sped past his opposite number to score a fine individual try.

An early second-half penalty by Barnes increased the visitors’ lead and it was 28-11 when Damien Brambly converted his own try after intercepting a pass and speeding the length of the field to score.

Brambley scored his second try after gathering a neat chip ahead by Barnes, who also converted, and he slotted another kick to make it 42-11 after Jake Avitable was forced over by the rest of the forwards for a try.

Westcliff found it difficult to stop the Colchester backs from passing wide for winger Jamie Pattle to score the seventh try, which was again converted by Barnes and there was still time for Sam Arnold to burst through the centre and finish off a brilliant set-piece move to score under the posts.

Barnes converted his sixth kick to complete a fine 56-11 victory.

Not to be outdone, the UNDER-17s are through to the semi-finals of the Eastern Counties Cup after a 48-0 win against Holt.

Tries came from Julian Chamberlain (2), Mark Burch, Adam Chamberlain (2) and Jack Martin, with four conversions by Sam Edwards for a 38-0 half-time lead.

Adam Chamberlain completed his hat-trick after the break and Alex D’Andrea wrapped up the scoring when he went over for a comfortable victory against a hard-working Holt side.

Colchester UNDER-16s took a mixed side to Shelford and lost 36-10, with tries by Harrison Jones and Connor Austin, while the UNDER-15s were also beaten by Shelford, going down 29-22 at home.

However, the UNDER-14s won 20-5 at Shelford, with Ben May, Ben Gayle, Dylan Ponty and Tom Hughes scoring after the visitors had fallen behind early on.

Colchester’s UNDER-13s put the previous week’s defeat at Wymondham behind them with a comprehensive display of attacking rugby to beat Shelford 56-7. Alex Peterson opened the scoring after three minutes with a try converted by Tom Bellis and further scores came from Alex Jackson, Sam Easton, Simon Holme, Elliott Hinton (2), Peterson, Frankie Hunt, Harry Dudman and Callum Neal in a fantastic display by the whole squad.

The UNDER-13s B team also had a big win as they eased past Ipswich 27-0 Winger Jack Edwards scored an unconverted try in the fifth minute and second-half tries followed by Nathan White, Freddie Cooke, Arthur Turner and Charlie Andrews in Colchester B’s best performance of the season.

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