COLCHESTER Rugby Club's quest for a first National 2 League scalp goes on as Henley won 10-7 at Raven Park but this was a match The Blacks could and should have won, writes EDWARD MARRIAGE.
At the final whistle it was telling that The Hawks, by some margin the least imposing side Colchester have encountered this season, seemed almost sheepish at securing a barely deserved victory.
“We’re getting into good areas but we’re not scoring points,” said head coach Craig Burrows, for whom a losing bonus point was scant consolation.
“We could have been smarter in certain aspects of the game. If we’d been a bit sharper in the red zone it would have made the difference.
“We thought we had this one, but the scoreboard shows different.”
On a filthy day of steady and at times torrential rain, this was inevitably scrappy fair.
They say you make your own luck, but Colchester can’t buy a break just now.
The players were convinced they were denied two legitimate tries in a first half they dominated in terms of possession and territory, but which ended without them scoring a point.
They should have been ahead inside two minutes, new signing Gabe Jones fed Jacob Bodkin who sped down the right.
Opting to go it alone on the outside, he was bashed into touch, and to add injury to insult dislocated his collar bone in the process. A lengthy lay-off seems inevitable.
In his place, Ed Parry went to fullback with Jones moving to the wing and Colchester continued to dominate possession, Corey Button missing a tricky penalty shot as the deluge intensified.
Jonah Varela made two promising surges into Henley territory but twice the ball went forward, then Button thought he had scored, but the referee ruled the ball was not grounded.
A rare foray into the Colchester half saw Henley go ahead through Max Titchener’s penalty and that looked to be it for the first half.
But in the final play before the break, just about the only eye-catching move of the match saw Henley score from a midfield scrum, a chip and gather resulting in Jamar Richardson going over. Titchener’s conversion made it 10-0.
The theme continued in the second half. First a Colchester maul was pushed into touch on the Henley tryline, then Dan Lewis disrupted a Hawks defensive line-out and Dan Brennan was held up over the line.
Joe Brock made way for Joe Colcomb and, just as at Bury the previous week, Colcomb scored with his first touch from a line-out drive. Button converted from wide out.
With Leroy O’Neil on for Callum Jeffery and Francois Rossouw replacing Brennan, Colchester had a chance to level on 68 minutes, but Button’s penalty went narrowly wide.
Cam Kerr made way for Ashton Webb and a rare Henley attack brought a penalty which would have made sure of victory, but it drifted wide.
Colchester's player-of-the-match from sponsors Stourgarden was Oli Pickett, while Danny Whiteman took the coaches’ award, courtesy of the Lexden Crown.
On Saturday, Colchester make the trip to play Oxford Harlequins, kick-off 3pm.
On a disappointing day for the club, the seconds lost 46-5 to league leaders Norwich, the threes went down 42-5 to Sudbury seconds and the fours lost 60-5 to Mistley seconds.
Colchester: Jones, Varela, Bodkin, Lloyd, O’Reilly, Button, Creighton; C Jeffery, Brennan, L Jeffery, Lewis, Brock, O Pickett, Kerr, Whiteman. Reps: Rossouw, Colcomb, O’Neil, Parry, Webb.
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