Mersea Island welcomed Crusaders from Norfolk on Saturday in what was a game to see the hosts move further away from the drop zone and cement a potential mid-table finish.

After the heavy rain we’ve had in the last few weeks, it was good to get out on a nice grass pitch and get some rugby under the belts, and straight from the first whistle Mersea showed their intent. Ben Norfolk – this week at lock – caught the ball and busted through multiple defenders to take the play up to the Crusaders 22m. A last ditch tackle stopped Norfolk, but with James Grant in support, he offloaded to the prop who slid in to score. From the restart, Mersea went back on the attack, and Crusaders conceded a penalty, which Scrumhalf Michael Williamson kicked up to the 22m. A lovely set piece saw Mersea go from right to left, and a sweet draw and pass from Fullback Isaac Sestak put left Winger James Deighton in to score. Tom Stuth kicked the conversion to make it 12-0 after only 4 minutes.

With scrum dominance giving the Islanders a nice platform to launch from, play stayed with the home side and after only a quarter of an hour played, Mersea scored their third. Crusaders conceded another defensive penalty and Williamson’s touch finder set the lineout about 8 metres out. With hooker Nic Woodhead on the money, the Mersea pack rolled up their sleeves and drove over with a rolling maul for Alex Strutt to score. Crusaders finally managed to get a foothold in the game, and with their forwards making metres around the ruck, drew a penalty of their own which they kicked over for their only points of the match. Not long afterwards, Mersea again got on a roll, with the forwards and backs seamlessly linking together to get another try on the board. Crusaders had kicked back into Mersea territory, but with number 8 Ollie White cleaning up, he countered and rampaged back down the left-hand channel. Quick ruck ball went right, but with the blindside light on defenders, Mersea shifted it back left to White who offloaded to Deighton who scythed through to score his second.

With only 2 minutes left of the half, Crusaders had a lineout on the left hand halfway line and attacked through their backs through the middle. Norfolk – who had been up in their faces all game – knocked the ball carrier back and then jackaled the ball to instigate another counterattack. Quick ball left again found Deighton whose searing pace skinned the cover defence for him to cap off a first half hattrick. 29-3 at halftime and seemingly no way back for the visitors.

For all the adventure that defined the first half, the second half was more of an even contest with only one try being scored by the home side. This came from the ball getting some air inside Mersea’s own third of the pitch, with Norfolk again in the mix alongside centre James Douds who weaved his way 40 metres down field before finally offloading to the excellent Tom Struth who went inches from scoring a try of his own. The ball was recycled quickly to the left and a big miss pass from Flyhalf Aidan Frensham found flanker Joey Barber who dived in to score. Norfolk stepped up and kicked the difficult conversion to push the score out to 36-3. To Crusaders credit, they fronted up massively in the second 40 minutes to claw back territory and possession and put the home side under pressure. However, the Islanders defence held fast and restricted the visitors to just the 3 points. The final score a pleasing 36-3 victory and 5 more points on the Counties 2 Eastern Counties table.

Next week sees Sudbury 2nd XV visit the Glebe for another round of rugby. Keep an eye on our socials for kick off time.