Saturdays league match against Thurston RUFC also doubled as a Suffolk Cup ‘Gold’ match, with the winner going into the quarter finals against Mistley on Saturday 8th February.

Thurston travelled well, with a decent proportion of last weeks 1s heading over to the Glebe with a few supporters in tow. And this set it up for a tense and entertaining Cup tie.

From the off, Mersea had control, with game play generally flowing towards the hosts in the first quarter and a Maul penalty try capping off a decent opening stanza. However the scrum began to cause a problem, and a yellow card was dished out to the Mersea loosehead which resulted in Thurston levelling it at 7-7. Instead of going on the back foot, this seemed to spur on the Islanders who scores three tries in the second quarter though some direct and gritty phase play.

The first went to Alex Strutt – popping up on the right edge – to skin his opposite man, then step inside and power over against the cover to reach out and score. Flanker Laurence White stepped up and converted to give Mersea back the lead. The next went to George Chisnall who took an awkward pass well then accelerated past the outreaching defence and slide in again the cover. Lastly, Ben Norfolk caught Thurston napping on a quick tap to run through sleepy defenders and crash over under the sticks to make it 28-7.

However, it was Thurston who ended the half well, dotting down just before the break, to make it 28-14 and all to play for in the second half.

Restarting the match and the game on a knife edge, Thurston flooded into the Mersea 22 and tested the home sides shoulders with a brutal assault on their try line. This instigated a flurry of red zone penalties which then forced the ref to warm the Mersea Captain Oliver White. Thurston tapped and went, with the next indiscretion resulting in the Mersea loosehead getting his marching orders after taking his second yellow - and subsequent red - for offside. 35 minutes to play, and Mersea were down to 14 men.

This gave Thurston the boost they needed, and they went on to crash over and make it 28-19.

With Thurston with their tails up, Mersea could have folded, especially with the big visiting midfield crunching it up at every opportunity. However, Mersea Island held fast as a unit, with the outstanding White and his compatriot Brad Gardiner chopping down every runner that came their way, and Nic Woodhead leading the charge with a succession of jackal turnovers. This gave the Islanders the impetus they needed, with Ed Harris coming to the rescue with the all-lead extending try.

Thurston didn’t give up though, and with less than a quarter of the match to play, kicked a penalty to bring it back to an 11-point gap. In relief, Mersea responded through White, who kicked his own penalty to take it out to 36-22 and only a handful of minutes left. Mersea were out on their feet, and Thurston fired one last shot to bring it back to 36-29, gaining a deserved 2 points. Mersea ground it our to the end though, and took the spoils; their 5 try win adding 5 points to their tally and moving the Islanders up to 8th on the table with 16 points from 7 games.

With a week off, the 1st XV return to action away at Crusaders on Saturday 9th November looking to keep the momentum going with another 5-point win.

In other news, the Rhinos triumphed over Colchester IV’s at Raven Park, with four Mersea Island Colts (U18s) making their senior men’s debuts for the Islanders. The lads were dominant throughout with their 34-7 win capping off a brilliant weekend of rugby for the community.