Colchester Rugby Club’s colts sealed progress to the semi-finals of the Eastern Counties Cup after a fiercely-fought tie at Diss.

Diss started brightly, but Colchester opened the scoring after moving the ball swiftly to the left wing following some good work in the loose by Avitable and Packenham-Walsh.

Poor tackling allowed Diss to edge ahead, but Liam Surgett powered through three tackles to score a brilliant individual try and he then passed to Ben Wakefield, who burst through to score under the posts for a 17-7 lead at the break.

The pace of the game continued in the second half, with Woodley scoring and Llewelyn converting to take the lead to 17 points.

Diss did not give up, but they were denied by solid tackling by Will Cllark at full-back and when Packenham-Walsh charged over, it sealed a 29-7 win.

However, Colchester UNDER-17s’ long winning run ended with a 43-10 defeat in the first round of the National Cup against Harpenden.

The boys were unable to repeat the style of play that had brought them the Eastern Counties Cup and they were well beaten by the strongest side they have met, but they didn’t lack spirit and were still pressing to the end.

Despite Colchester having plenty of possession in the opposition half, penalties counted against them and Harpenden led 17-0 at the break. A penalty from Sam Edwards did get Colchester on the scoresheet and he converted a try by Dan Withers, but Harpenden’s clinical edge proved too much.

Colchester’s UNDER-16s drew 15-15 with Ipswich in the Suffolk Cup.

A Dan Woodcock penalty and conversion, added to two tries by Connor Austin, saw Colchester 15-10 ahead as the game went into the last stages, but an Ipswich score levelled matters as the game ended in a draw.

Ipswich were no match for Colchester’s UNDER-15s, though, as they romped to a 47-0 win in the Suffolk Cup.

Ben West and Tom Dufficy were outstanding up front and in the loose and fly-half Joe Dodkins was able to set his fast running backs free, with winger Eddie Smith using his pace to score a hat-trick.

The under-15s development side lost a competitive fixture 27-5 to Upminster, but Colchester’s UNDER-14s B team enjoyed a 64-5 victory at Woodford Clacton beat Colchester under-14s C team 35-26 and the Seasiders also had the upper hand in a 17-10 success against Colchester’s B team.

Hooker Josh Tierney crashed over for a try in the first half to make sure the scores were level at half-time and he added a second after the break, but a late surge from Clacton saw them get the win.

l The under-14s A team are at Mill Road on Sunday to face Bury in the final of the Suffolk Cup.

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