With the ground hard and fast, and the sun shining, Mersea got off to the best possible start, with two tries coming inside the first 10 minutes to take a 12-0 lead. The first was down the right edge, with winger Alex Strutt finishing off a sweeping move to power over to score. The second from lock Warren Bewers who crashed through from short range. Hooker Laurence White kicked this conversion, to extend the lead early on.

In the same fixture last season, Bedford had managed to take the points home, and with their 1st XV being Level 5, the Islanders knew that the ebb and flow of the game would soon put them under pressure. And this was the case on 15 minutes, when an attacking scrum gave the visitors the opportunity for their scrum half to slice through to make it 12-7.

Not to be outdone, Mersea went back on the attack from the restart, and from a scrum on the left edge, flyhalf Michael Williamson put up a cross-field bomb for fullback James Deighton to chase. His opposite fluffed his lines, and when the ball bounced into Deighton’s hands, he offloaded to Nic Woodhead who crossed untouched. White kicked the difficult conversion, and the Islanders had some breathing space again at 19-7.

The remainder on the half was a difficult one for Mersea, with two yellow cards leaving them short for the most part which Bedford capitalised on: two quick tries just before the break giving them a 19-24 lead.

The second half started much like the first ended, with Mersea getting pinged and Bedford putting them under pressure. However, the blue wall held fast for 15 minutes, and when the opportunity arose, the Islanders pounced to take back the lead. A midfield scrum inside the Bedford 22 gave Mersea options either side, and some neat footwork by Deighton gave him his first of the match. White’s radar was on point again, with the sideline conversation going over to make it 26-24 to the home team.

Only a handful of minutes later, Mersea again had a set piece inside the Beford 22, this time the rolling maul splintering the Bedford forward pack and Woodhead crashing over once more. White again slotted the conversion, and Mersea had a 33-24 lead. To Bedford’s credit though, they didn’t give up and shortly after the restart a mix up in defence let them run through to score, with the converted try bringing it back to 33-31.

With 15 minutes to go, Mersea could have cracked under the pressure; instead, they upped the intensity and took control of territory and possession to score two stunning tries finished off by Deighton. The first – following a slick lineout move – gave Ben Norfolk and Toby Holmes-Lord a chance to flood down the right, with the final pass to Deighton giving him a foot race he would never lose. Shortly after, and other lineout gave Norfolk another change to draw the defenders, and the simple pass at pace gave Deighton his hattrick. The score now an unassailable 47-31 with a handful of minutes to go.

However, it was Bedford who had the last scoring opportunity, with a scrum inside the Mersea 22 giving them a change to bash it up close and finally cross the whitewash. The final score 47-38 and Bedford taking a deserved 4-try bonus point.

For Mersea, it was a satisfying day for them. Some sublime attacking rugby resulting in 7 tries against a well drilled Bedford, albeit with some defensive holes to fill before the trip to Mistley next week. All in all, the Mersea faithful can be pleased with the start to their league campaign with 2-from-2 and 9 points putting them in 4th place behind West Norfolk (1), Wisbech (2), and Fakenham (3).