RUGBY UNION: Ipswich YM 3 Colchester 70. There were two blizzards at Rushmere on Saturday. The first was of the picturesque white variety descending from the heavens and the second, an hour or so later, was a black variety in the shape of EC2N leaders Colchester that smothered and over ran their hosts, the Ipswich YM.

Ipswich YM 3 Colchester 70

THERE were two blizzards at Rushmere on Saturday. The first was of the picturesque white variety descending from the heavens and the second, an hour or so later, was a black variety in the shape of EC2N leaders Colchester that smothered and over ran their hosts, the Ipswich YM.

In the first meeting of these two sides earlier in the season, a late try bouyed the 21-10 Essex side's victory in a thrilling battle between evenly matched opponents. On this second occasion however, the gulf in class between first and third in the division looked huge.

The YM's John Hood opened the scoring after fifteen minutes with a nicely taken dropped goal. The visitors looked strong and pressured the hosts into errors, but it wasn't until YM scrum half Phil Watts was sin-binned (somewhat harshly some felt) that the first tries came.

The half-time whistle sounded with the score at 3-18, with the home team pleased with their containment of a side so obviously confident in their own ability.

The second half was a totally different affair though, as the undefeated league leaders really stepped up a stride. The "black blizzard" chalked up another 52 unanswered points with a mesmerising display of open, free-flowing rugby that was highlighted by the supporting options that always seemed available.

The shell-shocked hosts trudged off the field afterwards convinced they had just been playing against twenty men instead of fifteen, openly admitting they had been out-classed.

While the Colchester juggernaut rolls on, the YM are determined to bounce back and finish their league campaign in style though, they can be safe in the knowledge that few teams could have competed with the "All Blacks" in their current form.