Saturday 14th September 2002

Today was the first game of a new season and to mark this Mark Cardy presented a new strip to Hugh and Andy.

We went on to win comprehensively.

The post match celebrations also commenced today, players initially met in "The Firkin" for a couple, then festivities moved on to "The Playhouse" where the low price of drinks was welcomed by all. During the evening a number of other Colchester Players joined the party and a great evening was had celebrating the first full weekend of rugby in Colchester.

Saturday 21st September 2002 against Southend 3

62-0!!!

It was a fine and sunny day in Colchester, While we only managed to field a flat 15 (there was an injured sub) the Cavaliers acquitted themselves well against potentially stern opposition. There were initial questions as to whether we had already won, because Southend failed to arrive with a recognized front row, these questions soon proved to be immaterial. We scored early through Dieter, at no.8, off a scrum in their 22, and continued to score points throughout the first half. Some of the other scorers were Tane 2, Wayne 2, Reggie 1. New club members linked well with existing players, and the entire team showed that this season they intend to win and win well.

The match referee was Len Nieuwenhuis, whom we thank as he gave up his afternoon to referee us.

Enough of that!! Fancy a team curry night in town? Let's organize something soon. Here are some dates, all are home matches, thoughts on Saturday 28th before the game.

Friday 4th Oct, Friday 18th Oct, Friday 8th Nov & Saturday 9th Nov.

Tour

Check out this link:- http://www.colchester-rugby.co.uk/Senior/praguetour.htm

Saturday 28th September 2002 against Misley 1

20-10

Well, what a game!. The day started badly when we lost a player to the 2s, and this meant we would play the second half with 14 men. We were able to put this set back behind us in our warm up, we knew that we were in for a hard game.

It felt as if we were against 16 players for much of the first half, and this finally resulted in Misley scoring first with a penalty about half way through the first half. As a team we continued to battle away and soon after a Misley missed penalty we scored our first 'try'. It was at this point that Misley properly felt that it was they who were playing against 16 players. Their lack of discipline compared to our helped swing the game our way-they became more upset set at decisions than we did.

While all our points were scored by backs, Iain 1, Wayne 1 and Nick F 2, the game was won by the passion and commitment of our forwards. Firstly special thanks to Ian Parks who stayed till the last possible moment, leaving us only 10-15mins with 14 players. The rest of the pack won scrums against the head, almost at will, turned over ruck ball allowing the backs to attack. The forwards never stopped playing and they can take credit for a fine win. The backs did show a sharpness that has been lacking to date, Wayne adapted well to the unfamiliar position of Fly half and the ball move well through the hands.

There is great potential for this team, lets take this on and put in an even better performance against Ipswich next week.

We thank the match referee as he gave up his afternoon to referee us.

Saturday 5th October 2002 against Ipswich YM 2

22-7

Four wins out of four; this has been a great start to our season. This match saw a subdued Cavalier side over come a determined Ipswich side. The day started badly, but we managed to focus on the game ahead!!

Saturday's game against Stowmarket will be a lot harder and we will have to play like we did in the first three games to continue our unbeaten run.

This game showed that even below par we have a collective desire to win all our matches, we played the second half with 14 men and still managed to score re two tries in the closing 15mins. Again we fielded a team of new faces and old hands, every one worked together as a team and it's this sprit that will see us through this season.

Tries were scored by Stuart Jones 2, Dave 1 He converted 1 as well and ???? Help please!

We are going to start declaring a Man of the Match. This week it has to be Rod.

All substations are to be made through the captains on the day-no one is to take it upon themselves to second guess the captain's decisions.

Wednesday 9th October 2002 against 19th Royal Artillery

30-22

Firstly may I thank everyone for turning up. This was a match arranged at short notice and although it was billed as a Cavaliers fixture, it should be a Colchester team fixture due to the mixture of faces from the other Colchester teams.

The match was always going to be difficult, playing any armed services team is hard due to their fitness levels. This was true today; they also fielded a couple of regular Colchester players and some very fast backs.

Tries were exchanged throughout the match and Colchester secured victory with in the final minutes with a forwards drive that lead to a try, which was converted, and a penalty just at the end of time.

Saturday 12th October 2002 against Stowmarket 2

48-14

What a game this must of been one of the best performances that I have seen the 4ths play ever. The whole team played with guts and pride. The best thing about it all is that the whole club is talking about the Cavaliers and how well they are doing and players are queuing up to play for us.

The Stowmarket team where big strong and fast and we new before the game that this would be one of the hardest games that we would face this season. From the kick of the Cavaliers were in Stowmarket' face and this how it went for the first quarter of the game with the forwards doing the ball winning work and the backs showing that their ball handling skills are second to none. Then we lost our way a little bit and Stowmarket came back at Colchester. Then we come to the second half where this season we have done the most damage we took them apart cannot single players out but I will just print what Tane said to me " the standard of football played out there today is of the same standard as the 2nds plays. That was the best game of football I have played in for a long time". That says it all. I just hope that we keep focus and continue what we have started and go out on Saturday with the same desire to win.

Saturday 19th October 2002 against Wanderers 1

22-31

Well this is what defeat feels like. We have had 6 wins and some outstanding performances as a team. This Saturday as a team we lost our first match. We played much of the match with only 14 men, and we held our own for most of the match, our structure on the pitch has been better, but we still managed to match Wanderers for 60-70 minutes and in this we can hold our heads up.

We wish to thank Lee Tanner for his time and being a good referee for us.

Saturday 26th October 2002 against Harwich 2

29-20

I am glad to report that we as a Team are back to winning ways. However this performance was patchy, we took control of the match early on and scored 3 good tries, for me the best came from Rod as Harwich were arguing with the referee. Seeing Iain pass and a try follow was also surprising sight. And then we allowed Harwich to come back at us, so not long in to the second half the scores were tied then Harwich scored a penalty. There were indications that our heads were going down, however the collective sprit saw us through and in spite of some strange interpretations of the game by Harwich we went on to score two well worked tries. The final try by Stuart showed a glimpse of what we are capable of.

We had many other chances throughout the game and next week we will need to convert every opportunity in to points against a side that last year gave us a great game and pushed us all the way.

As previously mentioned we want to have a man of the match, there were many choices this week but Dirk gets the vote.

We wish to thank Lee Tanner for his time and again being a good referee for us.

There are no pictures this week due to technical difficulties, the batteries ran out!

Saturday 2nd November 2002 against ??????? Thurrock

29-10

That’s what I call a team effort.

This was always going to be a hard game for us, and looking at their forwards we knew the style of game we would face. We appear to always start off slowly, and we got an early indication of the game plan our opposition intended to use. We were down 7 points early on, but despite intense pressure we held them out for the rest of the game, they only managed a penalty in the second half. Their opening score woke us up to the fact that we were in a hard game, slowly we played our game, and the scores soon came. The first try from Paddy was a well work attack that saw forwards making ground and drawing in players, allowing our backs room to score. Dirk was unlucky on a number of occasions not to go over and score; he finally managed a try in the final quarter after a good break from Tane.

Further tries came from Bruce and Tane, additional points came from the boot of both Paddy (1 conversion and 1 penalty) and Bruce (2 conversions). Our forwards deserve much praise as they battled all afternoon against a stronger and well-organized unit.

Tane was given man of the match as he continued to work hard with a pack that was being pushed around, and he made breaks and attacked all game.

We wish to thank Sledge for his time and being a good referee for us.

Saturday 9th November 2002 against Canvey Island

20-0

There is not a lot to say about this weekends game that hasn't been aired at the club. Can I thank everyone who turned up, even though its was an international weekend. I believe that socially the afternoon went well in the Firkin.

Saturday 16th November 2002 against Thurston 2

27-3

This was a big match for us, we arrived reasonably early and discussed tactics, the weather and last nights activities. We still managed to start slowly, Thurston had us pinned in our half for some time, yet they only managed to come away with 3 points-Phil Larder would be proud. Our solid defense held for the rest of the game and at the end Thurston had no ideas on how to breach it. When we finally decided to turn up and play we managed to push them back and pressure their line, the first try came from good forward drive and quick ball to our backs who moved it wide and scored an easy run in. Our next try must be try of the season to date and I think it will be hard to beat for the rest of the season-from a penalty Chris kicked cross field, apparently in to the middle of the Thurston, it bounced in front of the posts, and we all looked wondering what was going on and then through burst Dirk. He caught the ball and ran on to score. We went on to score a further 3 good tries, with super sub JB racing down the wing leaving the opposition in his wake. Stuart scored the other two tries with great running and determination.   

As a team we worked well all afternoon and the victory was built on a solid team effort. Our first up tackles are getting better, and we are working hard for much more of the match.  

We wish to thank the referee, who had a great game, for his time.  

Man of the match goes again to Dirk, again this was not an easy decision, we had a number of other players who put in excellent performances.  

Lets keep up this solid effort and go on through the season without another loss.

Saturday 23rd November 2002 against Brightlinsea 2

32-14

This was always going to be a difficult match for us, Firstly a number of players know each other quite well, secondly this is a team that has played together for many years so they are well drilled. We exchanged tries in the first quarter of the match; we finished the first half slightly in front due to a penalty. We managed to out score them in the second half 3 tries to 0. Try scorers were Tane2, Joel 2, Wayne 1 & a conversation, & a penalty, Bruce scored the other conversation.

It felt like we made hard work to win this match and much credit for that must go to Brightlingsea, who battled till the end. Next week we will have to up our game to ensure that we beat Misley, so think about your contribution to this match now and bring the desire to win to the game.

Man of the match goes to Tane.

We wish to thank Lee Tanner for his time and again being a good referee for us.

Saturday 30th November 2002 against Misley 1

5-27

There will be no match report, we don't credit one.

Mike was nominated man of the match.

Much thanks goes to JB, without him acting as ref no one would have got a game.

Saturday 7th November 2002 against Ipswich YM 2

63-5

Unfortunately Harry Carpenter was unavailable to write this weeks match report.

It was a very cold afternoon in Ipswich, once everybody managed to make it to the ground we set out to put last weeks performance behind us.

We started well, scored a couple of tries. But Ipswich used their forwards and kept themselves in the game till half time.

In the second half we played to our full potential with some great rugby played by the whole team.

It was decided to give the man of the match to everyone in the team, there were too many scores to list.

Saturday 14th November 2002 against Upminster 3

Another great performance by a team that can play great rugby, or defend well or grin out a win against tough opposition. We defended exceptionally well all game; Bruce kicked a couple of penalties when we were in Upminsters half. Our tries came from Tane and Kenny both were the result of great pressure and great individual effort.

On Friday 20th December we are meeting in the Hogs Head for a couple of Christmas ales-every one welcome- see you there.

Saturday 4th January 2003 against Thurrock 4

12-12

It was a very cold afternoon in Thurrock, and well it was a cold start to the New Year, and as a team we managed moments of good rugby. It would be fair to say this was not a performance to be particularly proud of. Hopefully our next game will see a better performance.

Man of the match goes to Nick Howlett

Saturday 11th January 2003 against Stowmarket 2

We all managed to turn up at the club after a great night in town. Upon arriving at their ground we found that their pitches were still frozen, so we came home.

Saturday 18th January 2003 against Romford 3

8-38

Well this was the teams third defeat of the season. After many phone calls throughout the week, 15 people turned out to represent Colchester cavaliers. As a scratch side with a number of people playing out of position, and some who had never played for this team before I believe that we put together a good performance. Romford had some good players but we gifted position to them at times, yet in different circumstances we could have taken them apart

Many thanks must go to Bill Black and Maurice Kennedy who turned out for us, without whom we could have faced a cricket score.

We must also hope that Tane sorts his wrist out so he can join us on our winning Suffolk League Run.

Saturday 25th January 2003 against Chelmsford 3ish

17-34

With the first team calling of their match with Chelmsford, we knew we may well have a harder game than previously planned. In the first twenty minutes Chelmsford managed to score a number of times, and it was this spell that proved the difference at the end of the match. Once we woke up, made a few changes and started to play rugby we were more than equal to Chelmsford. We started the second half with two great and well-worked tries, unfortunately we were unable to build on this good start and occasionally we should have kicked for points.

As a team we can take many positives from this match so it looks good for our next Suffolk League match.

Saturday 1st February 2003 against Harwich 2

It snowed; it was cold so we didn't play. Next week there will be a revised fixture list for the rest of the season

Saturday 8th February 2003 against Bury St Edmunds 2

14-5

We are now one step closer to the league title after a well-played victory at bury St Edmunds. We started quickly-for the first time-and scored from a well-placed kick by Mark. The referee pinged both sides too often for a free flowing game, but Colchester held their game and battled well.

The forwards played well all afternoon but during the second half they played at their full potential. They drove Bury back, won rucks with ease, and won our scrums well. Bury used their full quota of subs, and they brought on some good players. We as a team, however, were equal to the challenge. It was unfortunate that we let in a soft try in the second half but apart from that our defense was excellent.

Saturday 15th February 2003

13.00 meet in "Quilters" for team building.

This team building exercise went very well, it also went on for a number of hours at other "training" venues. Hopefully we can organize many more.

Saturday 22nd February 2003 Harwich 2

56-0

Well that was the best game of rugby I have had the pleasure of being apart of. To a man every one played very well-England could have taken notes. The consensus was that we won this game through great defense in the final 10 minutes of the first half, when we were down to 14 men. Bill Blacks run and cross field kick was a highlight for me. I could continue talking about the quality of tries, but I don't want to be writing a rugby version of war and peace.

Saturday 1st March 2003 Thurston 2

27-8

Another win and another step closer to the league title. We started well and had much possession early on, in the first half we scored three well worked tries, we missed many other opportunities throughout the match, because of poor hand or 'forward' passes. We kept allowing Thurston mount attacks, but our defense was solid for the majority of the match, we did concede a soft try in the second half. 

Mike was nominated man of the match by the team, he work hard all game and turned over so much ball for us.

We wish to thank Lee Tanner for his time and again being a good referee for us.

Photos from Thurston's match are now here

Saturday 15th March 2003 against Stowmarket 2

28-5

We started well and had much possession early on, in the first half we scored Quickly, but we missed many other opportunities throughout the match. The Forwards this week were Very impressive, quick rucking and good mauling. It was unfortunate that the backs didn't have their best game but 4 good tries were scored.

Man of the match goes to Mark.

Photos from this match are here

Saturday 22nd March 2003 against Braintree 3

29-12(or18)

On a warm spring day we traveled the short distance to Braintree for our last Essex league game. We Started very well and scored quite quickly, Braintree rose to the occasion and the rest of the match was a hard fought contest. Braintree were a very physical side and on a number of occasions it was unlawful, but as a team we didn't react we just out played them.

The game ended early when David hurt his neck in an interesting interpretation of the tackle laws, his injury is not as serious as it could have been and he is ok. With 8mins to go it was game over and a well won victory to take in to our last Suffolk league match against Brightlingsea.

Man of the match goes to Rob.

Photos from this match are here

Saturday 29th March 2003 against Brightlingsea 2

15-14

The opposition had a number of first team players however that should be no excuse for the standard of our game.  The match was delayed slightly due to Tane who forgot his gum shield. We scored quickly showing the potential for a good game yet we let Brightlingsea's defense and commitment dictate the pattern of the game and then we decided that we ought to fight amongst ourselves for the next 75 minutes. This match has to go down as possibly our worst team performance this season. Hopefully next week will be better.

Photos from this match will be here

Saturday 5th April 2003 against Pegasus

52-3

After much hard work two teams arrived at Colchester to start our end of season celebrations. Upon arrival we were informed that one of the oppositions cancelled at 1.30. Fortunately we were able to give all those who wanted to play at least half a match. Some of our team members went and played for the 3rds and decided to show off and the match report should be in the paper on Tuesday. The players that played against Pegasus put in a good and entertaining performance for the crowds, well some parents and a few mates. We thank Pegasus for turning up and showing us that social rugby can still be a laugh and I think we look forward to having the opportunity to playing them again next season. There were too many scorers to name but yet again Mark was nominated Man of the Match. Information on how the curry went can be found here.

There are photos now on line here

and

There are photos now on line here

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