With the wind at their faces, Mersea kicked off to YM who from the outset were looking to pin the home side back at every opportunity. This territorial pressure worked early on, with Mersea conceding a penalty in their own 22, and YM scoring their first try after only 7 minutes.

The ensuing 15 minutes then descended into a set piece arm wrestle. Mersea’s lineout imperious, whilst Ipswich YM had the edge in the scrum. However, it was the scrum which allowed Mersea Island to score next; James Deighton scampering over down the left. Laurence White slotted the sideline conversion expertly to level the scores at 7-7.

With 20 minutes of the second half left and tied on 7 points apiece, a massive shift in momentum gifted the visitors no less than 5 unanswered tries to leave the Islanders reeling at halftime, trailing by 7-36. YM happy, and Mersea looking for some answers.

And answers they gave, with Captain Oliver White leading from the front to drive Mersea Island back into the contest with 2 converted tries bringing the score back to 21-36. Firstly, a kick return was spun into midfield by Aidan Frensham and the recipience – Isaac Sestak – had it all to do from the halfway line. Taking it on the run, Sestak firstly stepped three forwards to break the first line of defence. Pumping his legs, the fullback accelerated up towards the 22, bumping off his opposite, before powering past the flailing last defender to score a lovely try for the Islanders. Minutes later, Frensham then scored one of his own from a crafty pick and go, following 8 phases of brilliant continuity from Mersea Island.

Although the home side had had all the possession and territory in the second stanza, the Ipswich YM scrum begun to win back some momentum. And, following a series of infringements inside their own 22, Mersea Island conceded a penalty try which opened the gap back out to 43-21.

But this setback didn’t holster the Islanders pistols, only spurring them on to score two further breathtaking tries and take a bonus point out of the contest. Try 1 was a tap and go penalty inside the YM red zone which resulted in James Goldring swatting off 4 defenders to crash over under the sticks. And then from the kick off, Mersea produced a sublime phase of rugby to score their 5th of the day following some magic handling between both forwards and backs.

Taking it on the 22, Laurence White hit the try scorer Goldring who sucked in 3 defenders to set up a ruck about 30m out from his goal line. A tip on to the industrious Ed Johnston set play off down the left flank, with some intricate passing giving Graham Watson a run up to the 10-metre line. Another phase narrowed the YM defence before some beautiful catch-run-pass from both Oliver White and Goldring set George Chisnall Away down the right. Chisnall drew 2 defenders before offloading to White, who then tippy toed his was along the right touchline. Keeping the ball alive, White started a chain of 9 passes which ended in Deighton screeching around the left touchline to score a worldy of a try. White kept his 100% goal kicking ratio, and the fulltime whistle was blown 35-43 to Ipswich YM.

Although disappointed with the loss, the Islanders were buzzing with their response to the halftime score, and the coaches were pleased with the resilience shown by all 18 men donning the Mersea crest.

This week sees the lads get a well-deserved rest, before returning to action on Saturday 12th October away at Woodbridge. This date also sees our Rhinos at home to Ipswich YM 2nd XV.