Cottenham kicked off and Mersea – sporting quite a few changes from the defeat at Crusaders – set about their work early with some good shape and excellent tactical kicking from Fly Half Aidan Frensham. From a penalty, Captain Ben Norfolk went quickly, and quick hands set Pat Gardiner away down the right and his chip was charged down into touch. Scrum Half Tom Lambelle went quickly to Norfolk, and with a neat offloading game, Mersea went hot on attack. Multiple phases sucked in the Cottenham forwards, and when the slippery ball went to Alex Strutts shoelaces, he picked up diligently to carve his way through and score after only 3 minutes. Gardiner converted and was 0-7 to the Islanders.

As they would do all game, Cottenham traded punch for punch with Mersea, and after a 20 minute slog fest in the mist, the home side mauled their way over under the sticks and the conversion levelled it up. With Cottenham’s big pack winning at scrum time, Mersea found it difficult to maintain territory, and more direct rugby from the home team sent them back into the Mersea red zone until some quick hands outflanked the cover and Cottenham scored again. 10 minutes to half time, and Cottenham had a 12-7 lead. Although the scrums were a little shaky, the Mersea lineout was a slick and well oiled machine, with Ollie White rising high to win multiple throws from industrious Hooker Nic Woodhead. When Mersea got their game going, Cottenham struggled to keep up, and multiple penalties just before halftime gave the Islanders one last shot. From 5 metres out wide right, Lambelle tapped and passed to the returning James Goldring who was never going to be denied that close to the line and both sides went into the break level at 12-12.

Kicking off to start the second stanza, Mersea almost replicated the first half by scoring after only 2 minutes. Massive pressure forced Cottenham to exit, and from the ensuing lineout, centre Michael Williamson used his power and footwork to slice through the onrushing defence to set up a ruck inside the 22. Quick hands left stretched the defenders and with the ruck defence drifting off to cover the blind side, Lambelle nipped in to score. Gardiner converted and Mersea went ahead 12-19. Not to be outdone, Cottenham gained some territory and possession only minutes later to dot down themselves on the far left, with this unconverted try also coinciding with a second yellow for Mersea – following a similar yellow in the first half – for persistent offside.

With a man advantage, Cottenham started to turn the screws and with 20 minutes left on the clock scored their 4th try of the game; a strong pick and drive from their Number 8 sucked in the inside backs, and their big 10 punched over for a well worked try. Almost out in front, the Fly Half converted his own score to take the lead out to 24-19. Another 15 minutes of attritional rugby went by with yet another yellow being dished out to the visitors for questioning a penalty call. However, instead of rolling over, Mersea upped their intensity and wrestled territory away from Cottenham and forced a poor clearance on their own line into the middle of the park. Gardiner countered with left winger James Deighton back into the Cottenham 22. Goldring settled things down with a strong run along the left hand 15m line, and with quick ball out to Woodhead, Centre George Chisnall ran a lovely line to syth through the flailing defence and used a neat left foot step to beat the last man and score under the posts. Gardiner converted to take back the lead at 24-26 to set up a pulsating final few minutes.

As they had done from the first whistle, Cottenham didn’t give up, and from a midfield scrum just outside the Mersea 22, launched yet another attack which resulted in a kickable penalty, which their fly half took with aplomb to retake the lead at 27-26 with only 4 minutes remaining. Mersea – who had been in this position more than once this season – could have rolled over and settled for a losing bonus point. However, this seemed to energise every single player, and the Islanders flew into the kickoff to tackle Cottenham just outside their own 22. Cottenham kicked, but the chase was lethargic and Gardiner had time to counter. Finding Strutt on the left, play went back towards the middle of the pitch and Mersea set themselves up to attack. Frensham found Deighton, and his powerful run resulted in an offload to the workhorse winger Tom Struth, but the ball was knocked forwards. However, the Islanders had a penalty for a high tackle in the middle of the field, on half way which was taken quickly. Goldring yet again put his hand up and beat three before being hauled down. Play went left and yet another high tackle allowed Mersea – now back to 15 men – to kick to touch for one final salvo. From the lineout, White went high, and the ball was swung out to Williamson for another crash ball. Six more phases through the middle were superbly defended by Cottenham, and when the ball went wide left to Deighton, he only just managed to stay in touch inches from the try line. One more settler gave Mersea an attacking opportunity wide right, and when the ball missed two and bounced it was again up to Strutt to do something special. And this he did, cutting back off his right to power over and score the winning try. Gardiner converted, and Mersea snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a show of resilience against a Cottenham team that put 100% effort into the game.

The final score, 27-33 to Mersea.