Match Report

 The Mount 16-54 Colchester

23/07/05 (Courtesy of Colchester Romans)

Colchester Romans stormed into the play off semi finals with a ten try demolition of prison side The Mount.  An accident on the M25 added an hour to the trip to Hemel Hempstead, and as soon as the players arrived at the pitch they had to kick off the game without a warm up.  Surrounded by 30 foot high fences topped with razor wire, the young Romans appeared intimidated, and it was The Mount who were quickly into their stride, completing a set of six and then disrupting Colchester's possession. 

 

After 7 minutes the Mount were ahead when they capitalised on a mistake by their opponents, but Colchester responded immediately kicking off short with the ball bouncing kindly to the arms of centre Max Cochrane, who raced through The Mount's defence to level the scores.  Play went to and fro with the Romans gradually getting the long journey out of their legs, having to defend well against some strong attacks from The Mount. The deadlock was broken after 20 minutes when 16 year old winger James Bond darted through a gap to sprint 50 meters and score under the posts.

 

The Mount came back and scored within two minutes when a high kick was regathered and the ball passed was out for a try in the corner, a good conversion attempt hitting the post.  But Colchester were now into their stride and from a scrum the ball was spread to Cochrane who cut through the defence and scored. Soon after full back Kyle Hutchins made a break before passing to Cochrane who went over for his hat trick to make the score 24-10 at half time, in a game that had been shortened to 30 minutes each way.

 

The second half saw the Romans gain possession from their kick off to set up Jason Hatcher for a try, which prompted a flurry of scores.  First of all the ball went along the line for Hutchins to score in the corner, then from a penalty Pat Duffy dummied before going through a gap to touch down under the posts.  Good handling gave Josh Dobner a try on the right wing before Hutchins received a popped ball and burrowed over from short range. 

 

Colchester were now 48-10 ahead with 15 minutes to go, and The Mount found their second wind and started to put one or two useful phases of play together.  However, poor discipline was their undoing, giving away far too many penalties to maintain any continuity.  A dropped ball by The Mount allowed Rob Kemp to gather and score his first try for the Romans, before the home side had the final say with a powerful run ending with a deserved consolation try.