St Ives Roosters continued their quest to secure an Eastern Region play off place with a comfortable victory over Colchester Romans.
The Roosters went into the game with an under strength side missing England International Marco Rossi, influential half back Dan McCormack and prop forward Ross Thompson.
The Roosters quickly got into their stride and opened the scoring in the 5th minute with an opening try by Jamie Noble. He was fed a pass by Mike Sykes and beat two players to cross under the post. Sykes converted the try. Three minutes later they extended the lead further. James Shearman was fed by hooker Andy Dean to cross easily over the line for an unconverted try.
A lapse in concentration allowed the Romans back into the game. The ball was moved to the left hand side of the field into open space. A weak attempted tackle by Jack Blackley allowed the Colchester winger a clean run to the line to score an unconverted try.
The Roosters hit back three minutes later when a powerful run by Shearman resulted in a try under the posts. He beat four players to score the 4 pointer which was converted by Sykes. This extended the lead to 16 – 4.
Once again Colchester hit back as Blackley missed another tackle to allow a converted try to be scored in the corner. This led Roosters Coach, Ian Hill, to substitute him to give Christopher Sykes his Conference debut this season.
This score motivated the Roosters and they hit back with a try from Oli Moorhouse. From a scrum the ball was moved wide which gave him space to score in the corner.
The lead was extended when John Paxton’s attempted kick through bounced off a Colchester player. Paxton responded quickly to re gather the ball and score under the posts. Michael Sykes converted to give the Roosters a 26 – 10 lead. Unfortunately another lapse in concentration allowed the Romans to score an unconverted try just before half time to bring them back into the game with the half time score giving the Roosters a 26 – 14 lead.
A fired up Roosters started the second half well motivated and took complete control of the game. Three quick tries sealed the win for them. Andy Dean maintained his record of scoring in every game this season with dart over the line from close range.
This was followed by a second Paxton try after the Colchester full back lost the ball in the tackle. Paxton simply picked up the ball and stepped over the line to score.
This third try was an excellent piece of work by Michael Drake. He charged down a Colchester kick, retrieved the ball and ran 60 metres to score under the posts.
Michael Sykes converted all three tries to give the Roosters a winning lead of 42 – 14. With the need to increase their point’s difference in the league the Roosters pushed on in the search for more points.
Clever play by Paxton freed Oli Moorhouse on the left wing to score his second try of the game. Despite this Colchester never gave up and continued to work hard. They were rewarded with five minutes to go when their scrum half scored a fine individual try.
The Roosters had the last word though with Paxton completing his hatrick after a break on the half way line. He out paced the Colchester defence to score under the posts which allowed Michael Sykes to complete the scoring with an easy conversion.
The Roosters next home game is the Cambridgeshire Derby when they host Cambridge Eagles on Saturday 14th. The kick off 2.30pm and the game will be played at St Ives RFC, Somersham Road.
Roosters player John Paxton has been selected to play for the England Lionhearts “A” team in a fixture next Saturday against a North East England XIII. The game will be played at Gateshead International Stadium before the England Lionhearts v Scotland International.