Colchester Under-15s were made to battle for their narrow victory against Diss.

Having spurned early chances of their own, the hosts fell behind to a Diss score, but tries by Lewis Ludlam and Eddy Smith and a conversion by Tristan Rawcliffe gave Colchester a 12-10 lead at half-time.

This was extended to seven points when Rawcliffe converted Matt Howe’s try after the break, but the visitors showed dogged determination and two tries put them one point ahead with three minutes left.

However, a late penalty decision was disputed by the Diss players and they were marched back a further ten metres into kicking range for Rawcliffe, who slotted the attempt between the posts for a last-gasp winner.

Diss’ younger age group were unable to repeat the performance, though, and there was a comfortable win for Colchester’s UNDER-13s A team. A quartet of tries for prop Adam Cook, two apiece for flanker Ben Kelland and centre Simon Holme and scores by number eight Sam Easton, centre Charlie Andrews, winger Alex Peterson and winger Josh Harvey, with conversions by fly-half Tom Bellis, sealed an emphatic 68-5 victory.

There was also a big win for the under-13s B team, who put recent disappointments behind them to beat Brightlingsea 39-0 in an excellent display. First-half tries by centre Freddie Cooke and prop Leo Shepherd gave a 10-0 advantage at half-time, before two tries by centre Dan Harding, one each for prop Brad Watts and second row Ollie Davies and a second of the game by Shepherd, added to conversions by fly-half Liam Martin secured the win.

Colchester’s UNDER-17s stepped up a level and beat a much older Romford side 12-5 on the road.

FOR MORE PICTURES OF ACTION FROM COLCHESTER RUGBY CLUB'S YOUTH SECTION GAMES, CLICK ON THE YOUTH RUGBY PICTURES LINK ABOVE.