It may have been far from a faultless performance, but Colchester Rugby Club’s under-14s beat North Walsham 17-7 at Mill Road.

The hosts had to work hard to maintain their usual forward dominance and repeated unforced errors restricted their ability to attack from wide areas, but they denied the visitors gaining revenge for a defeat in Norfolk before Christmas.

Forward support in attack gave the decisive edge to Colchester allowing them to score three unanswered tries in the first half from Ollie Pescott Frost, Charlie Hallows and Ben May for a 17-0 lead at the break.

The second half saw North Walsham harden their resolve and, helped by some indiscipline and uncharacteristically poor tackling from Colchester, they were rewarded with a converted try under the posts.

A scrappy encounter saw the home side raise their efforts in the latter stages, though, and they held on for victory The under-14s development side matched the A team, with a 37-3 win at Diss, however Colchester’s under-15s development side lost 19-7 at Stowmarket.

Colchester opened the scoring as Alex Evans touched down with a breakaway try that he then converted, but Stowmarket’s pack began to exert dominance and levelled the scores before half-time.

Despite an impressive defensive display in the second half by the visitors, Stowmarket’s attacking took its toll and two late tries sealed their win.

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