Eastern Counties Rugby Union

The Competition concluded yesterday with 2 outstanding and close finals.

Cambridge beat Bury 15-12 in the Cup
North Walsham beat Colchester Development 26-24 in the Plate

24 teams from 22 clubs entered the competition this season, with 12 teams in each of the Cup and Plate – the largest number in recent history.

There were many close and competitive games in the pool round, testimony to this is the fact that no club was unbeaten in the Cup, and only one unbeaten side in the Plate.
62 out of 66 games were played.

My thanks to Wilf Lambert for his excellent administration of the competition.

And thanks to Malcolm Watson & Mike Youngman for making the presentations yesterday.

Please see notes from

1) Bill Lankford at Cambridge
On behalf of Cambridge Colts. Thank you for organisation and implementation of this years Colts competition. Our experience of the league format was good and a decent size group maintained interest. The quality of sides progressing to the semi finals was excellent and the level of competition intense. Cambridge are delighted to win the competition but very mindful how close we were pushed in the semi final and final. Aggregate scores saw us with just a three point margin over the two games.
Also a big thank you to our referees in the eastern counties. Its a tremendous benefit to the youth game to have a strong network of officials, Great to have Ed Odell and ARs come down from Norfolk today, mic'd up and bringing a professional feel to today's game.

2) Bruce Rossi at North Walsham
I would like to endorse Bill's words from all of us at North Walsham.
We also had a close game just winning 26 - 24. Agree it was good for the boys to have the professional approach from the Officials with them all working in tandem.
Once again many thanks to all the organisers it has been a well worthwhile competition.

3) Steve Wright at Colchester
Credit also to the ref/touch judge triumvirate. Very happy with their display.
All in all, great competition.

Attached is a picture of Cambridge Colts Captain Marcus Lankford receiving the Cup from Malcolm Watson.