Colchester Rugby Club’s UNDER-EIGHTS split their big squad into three separate locations with fixtures against Woodford, Brightlingsea and Brentwood.

The Lions squad took on Brightlingsea and the under-sevens squad at home, winning three out three matches, with scores by Aiden Campbell-Dunne (9), George Welsh (3), Alfie Grimsey, Thomas Powell (2), Cameron Sprott (2) and Brendan Edwards (2).

At Woodford, the Panthers beat Barking 6-4 and Woodford Orange 6-5 and drew 6-6 with Woodford Yellow, but lost 8-5 to Thurrock B and 7-5 to Woodford Purple, with scores by Chris Cathcart (6), Jude Spearing (6), James Pugh (3), Hugh Stanton (3), Thomas Sturgeon, Adam Widlake, Jamie Allen and Jed Leeson.

The Tigers had two tough games against Thurrock, but finished with an excellent win against Woodford as tries came from Matthew Denny (2), Con Tyler (8), Nathan Gardner (5), Matthew Johnson (2), Dylan Sayer (3), James Carver-Hardy (2) and Guy Haines (2).

It was an undefeated morning for the Leopard squad in four games against Brentwood and South Woodham Ferrers as tries came from Harry Williams (10), Gus Edwards (2), William Kerr, Becky Howe, Edward Lucking (5), Max Cowan (2), Noah Backhouse and Alex Ward.

The UNDER-NINES Vikings and Saxons headed to Woodford to compete in a tournament involving Woodford A and B, Thurrock A and Barking A.

The Vikings’ usual solid defence and much-improved attacking moves enabled them to win every game, scoring 14 tries without conceding any as they beat Woodford A 30-0, Woodford B 10-0, Thurrock 10-0 and Barking 20-0.

Colchester’s Saxons team fell to a 50-5 defeat by Wodford B in their opening game, before another loss to Thurrock and while they did show improvement in their last two games, they lost 30-5 to Woodford A and 20-5 to Barking A.

Two UNDER-TENS A squad teams travelled to the Saracens Festival.

The first team had a 3-0 win against Witham, but 1-0 defeats by both Hemel Hempstead and Chess Valley as tries came from Josh Fouche, Oliver Eaves and Kit Welch, while there were three wins and one defeat for the second Colchester team.

They lost 3-0 to Haywards Heath, but beat Dartford 4-0, Fullerians 5-0 and Fakenham 6-0 thanks to tries by Harrison Bull, Joe Boone, John Lynch, Leo Tyler, Freddie Rogers, Greg Cooke and four by Elliot Adams.

Meanwhile, the under-tens B squad faced Woodford and Thurrock and narrowly lost all their four matches against strong opposition.

Try scorers were Oliver Smith, Oliver Newlove, Ewan Waters and Thomas Newland and there was an outstanding all-round performance by Theo Levison.  Colchester’s UNDER-11s travelled to North London and won five of six matches in a tournament involving Woodford Green and Thurrock.

Lions captain, Alex Godley, opened the scoring against Thurrock, before hooker Louis Bettis powered over for a second, centre Scott Taylor scored a third, Godley and Bettis both bagged another and wing James Pattis showed electric speed to go over in the corner and wrap up a 30-0 victory.

A defeat by Woodford Green followed as Godley scored the only try in a 10-5 loss, but the skipper was back on the scoresheet alongside Benn Dyson and Bettis as the Lions beat Thurrock 15-0.

The Ravens won their first game 15-0 against Woodford Green with tries for centres Jordan Fester (2) and James Hoddell, before scores by Jordan Millburn (2), Rhys Smith, Will Chapman, Fester, Hoddell and Rory Burke secured a 35-0 win against Thurrock.

The final match of the day saw the Ravens play Woodford Green again and the visitors showed no mercy as they ran out 35-0 winners, with Alfie Chinook, Milburn, Smith and Harry Doughty among the scorers.

Louis Bettis and Daniel Hughes shared the man-of-the-match award.

Woodford were similarly blown away by Colchester’s UNDER-12s as some open flowing rugby ripped the home defence apart in a 35-0 victory with tries by Sage (2), Murray, Rossouw, Johnston, Ainsworth and Evans.

The second game against a big aggressive Thurrock team was a much closer affair, but second-half tries from Ferguson and Brown ensured a deserved 10-0 win.