Despite there only being nine points between the teams at the end, Colchester Colts were always in control of their friendly encounter with Rochford at Mill Road.

The first try came as Dewi Llewelyn gathered his own box kick and swift passing to the wing allowed Jamie Pattle to outstrip his opposite number to score under the posts.

Colchester scored another three tries in the first half by Sam Arnold, Callum Jones and Sam Mahoney, with all four converted by Llewelyn to make it 28-12 at half-time.

Colchester’s set-piece domination continued in the second half and a rolling maul, set up by a clean line-out take by Harry Sparkes, ended with George Woodley score on his first game back after a long injury.

Llewelyn converted again, before a break by Liam Surgett resulted in a final try to set up a 40-31 victory.

Colchester’s UNDER-17s also enjoyed a win against Rochford at Mill Road. With the wind on their backs, Jack Dufficy opened the scoring for Colchester with a powerful run and Sam James followed up with a try.

Fly-half Sam Edwards converted both despite the blustery wind, before Rochford hit back with a try, but another score by Lloyd Pinnell, converted by Edwards, gave the hosts a 21-5 half-time lead. Colchester added three unconverted tries after the break by Will Sizer, James and Julian Chamberlain to bring the final score to 36-5.

The UNDER-14s had to overcome a long injury list, but still beat Westcliff 31-0 at home. Helped by a solid forward platform, Colchester’s three quarters showed great vision and movement in attack and Westcliff were quickly outmanouvered thanks to exceptional performances from Sam O’Brien and Elliot Cryne.

Cryne together with Joseph Stevens scored tries for a 19-0 half-time lead and tries by Charlie Hallows and Matt Wadling wrapped up the win after the break. Westcliff also took a battering from the under-14s development side, who enjoyed a 48-0 win, however, Colchester’s UNDER-13s development side were unable to repeat the success as they lost 12-7 to Westcliff.

Trailing 5-0 at half-time, Colchester upped their game after the break and their efforts were rewarded with a try by centre Dan Harding, which was converted by fly-half Freddie Cooke.

However, they were unable to force their advantage home through poor decision making and a late breakaway try wrapped up the win for Westcliff.