RUGBY: Holt beat Brightlingsea in the second round of the RFU Junior Vase.

Holt now progress to the next round on the November 27 and will await the outcome of the draw, hoping for a home one, as all of the remaining teams left in the competition, apart from West Norfolk, entail a journey out of the county.

Holt 27, Brightlingsea 10

It was the first time the clubs had played each other and therefore difficult to forecast a result; although the visitors' league record in Essex 1 was inferior to that of the host side, thereby pointing to a home win.

Early on, Holt looked dangerous on excursions into their opponent's half but without being able to finish off positive moves. However it was Brightlingsea who took the lead when their number eight scored following a maul close to the line.

This stung Holt into a positive reaction and four minutes later Jarry-Ryan scored under the posts following a determined run and with Allen adding the points with the conversion, the lead had been gained at 7-5.

Holt were realising their opponents were keen to run the ball with some good inter-passing and not relying so much on kicking, where as the home side were too keen to kick away possession.

The visitors were making a full contribution to the game and Holt had a let off when a scoring pass was adjudged to be forward, but with half-time approaching the hosts needed to add to their slender lead and had this satisfaction, when Allen kicked a penalty to increase the lead to 10-5.

The remainder of the half saw no more scoring, but Holt knew they had to increase their work rate against lively opponents.

The second half started with Holt making ground right to Brightlingsea's line thanks to a determined run by Amiss, which unfortunately was not finished off and they then had to retreat to deal with an interception which took play well into the home side's half.

Play was now with rain falling, making handling difficult for both sides, but it was Holt who were dictating events and increased their lead after a quarter of an hour when Woods scored from close range.

Allen was equal to the occasion by converting to make the score 17-5 to the hosts and the game was now beginning to look safe for them.

Ten minutes later Robson gained possession and chipping ahead, ran onto the ball and raced down the touch line to score in the corner increasing the lead to 22-5. Three minutes later following more pressure on the visitor's line, Filby added his name to the scorers by putting the game out of the their reach at 27-5. However it was Brightlingsea who had the last laugh and following a visit into Holt's half, were rewarded by a well taken try to reduce the margin to 27-10.

The final whistle went two minutes later recording a win for the home side against worthy opponents, who never gave up.

This weekend, Holt are away to Crusaders, who are just below them in the league and know they will be in for a hard game, although their record there is good.