COLCHESTER travelled to bottom side Ruislip and claimed a bonus point 49-14 victory, writes STEVE WHITEMAN.

The Blacks scored seven tries to the hosts' two to claim a third high-scoring victory in a row, in London One North.

Colchester had a strong squad particularly with the return of back rower Jamie Miller and winger James Crozier plus Rory Miller's welcome return to the second row.

Colchester head coach Ben Skully said: "Over the past week Ruislip have strengthened their side under a new coach so all credit to our boys coming here and picking up five points which after all was our main objective."

Fly-half David Higgins once again put in a peerless performance, distributing the ball well and successfully converting all seven tries.

Credit must also go to men-of-the-match No 8 Harrison Pickett and hooker Sam Butler, who both scored twice.

Playing down the slope, Colchester kicked off and poured into the Ruislip half claiming a well-taken try by Jamie Miller after a few minutes play.

Not to be outdone, the hosts pressed forward from the restart and there followed 20 minutes of intense rugby. Eventually the referee awarded Ruislip a penalty which was kicked to touch close to the Black's tryline.

A well-executed catch and drive put their forwards over for a converted try to make it level at 7-7.

Colchester soon replied when their dominant forwards surged into Ruislip's red zone and Pickett broke through to score a fine individual try.

Minutes later he added a second following good team work with fullback Conor Austin turning defence into attack.

At the interval the Blacks were 14 points ahead, Nick Flexman having replaced concussed Jamie Miller.

Conor O'Reilly also came off the bench to take winger Joe Flexman's place.

Five minutes into the second half Colchester won a scrum on halfway and scrum half Brett Cutbush fed Higgins who kicked deep forcing the defender to scramble the ball into touch close to his line.

A successful catch and drive by the Black pack resulted in Butler claiming the bonus point try.

Ten minutes later an almost copycat move by Colchester saw Butler claim his second bringing the score to 7-35. Prop James Mitchell was rested and Lewis Jeffery came off the bench just before over-exuberant defence by Crisp earned him a yellow card and ten minutes rest.

Down to 14 men stretched the Blacks defence and before long Ruislip's scrum half scooted through a gap to score.

This setback plus some harsh words from skipper Danny Whiteman seemed to galvanise the team.

In the final moments they scored twice after some excellent handling and set pieces with lock Alex Burman to the fore.

The scorers were centres George Liversidge and Jona Crisp, soon after he returned to the pitch.

Colchester next host Woodford at Mill Road this weekend to see if they can continue their winning streak.