COLCHESTER ROMANS 40 GREENWICH ADMIRALS 32 Rugby League Conference East Division Greenwich failed to get to grips with the fast breaks, which led to six of the Romans' seven tries, while excellent defending saw the London side made to work hard for every point.

The Admirals looked good going forward with some good passing and off-loads, but they weren't able to match Colchester's scoring as they bounced back from a defeat in their opening league outing against Hainault Bulldogs.

Within two minutes of the start, Colchester conceeded a penalty 20 metres from their line, from which Paul Jackson scored an unconverted try for an early Admirals lead.

However, the Admirals knocked on from the restart and Colchester played out their tackle set along the Greenwich line.

Andrew Windridge eventually found a gap to touch down and Jon Scotchmer converted to make it 6-4.

On ten minutes, winger Tim Hopkins collected a kick on his own 20 metres and out-paced the Greenwich defence down the right wing before cutting in to score under the posts to give Jon Scotchmer an easy conversion for a 12-4 lead.

However, Greenwich hit back with a try from Darrel Keeling after good off-loads and cross-field passes set him up wide on the left, before Jim Spark took advantage of missed tackles to score under the posts.

Both tries were converted by Dave Wilson to give Greenwich a 16-12 lead midway through the first half.

But, the Admirals' ability to cope with Colchester's high kicks first let in Hopkins then John Freshwater with great individual efforts after regaining possession from up-and-under kicks.

Scotchmer converted both for a 24-16 half-time lead.

From the restart, the Admirals put the Colchester line under considerable pressure until Adam Cook broke from within his own 20-metre area, handing off and side-stepping players to increase the Romans' lead with an 80 metre run.

Greenwich pressure paid off on 55 minutes when, forced to kick out from under the posts, Colchester kicked straight into touch and from the resulting penalty, Guy Aldams crossed wide to reduce the arrears to 28-20.

But Colchester quickly restored a 14-point lead when full Charlie Sadler collected a high kick and then confounded everyone by immediately kicking it over the Greenwich defence and running through to gather his own kick for a score.

With 15 minutes left, Greenwich were starting to look out of it as Cook scored his second individual effort, which Sadler converted to give the Romans a 40-20 lead.

However, the Admirals were to enjoy their best spell of the game with Spark and Dave Wilson adding late tries but it was too little too late.

Romans: Tries: Adam Cook 2, Tim Hopkins 2, Andrew Windridge, Charlie Sadler, John Freshwater. Conversions: Jon Scotchmer six from six, Charlie Sadler one from two.