Any Crusaders supporter would have been delighted with the performance of their pack despite their side's defeat at the weekend.

Having taken an early lead with a penalty Mersea were subjected to an onslaught from Crusaders' forwards resulting in two pushover trys and and but for some gritty defending by the visitors, the home side should have switched ends with a more comfortable lead than 14-13.

The second half belonged to Mersea though with the visitors gaining confidence to run the ball against a much-changed Crusaders' back line. Their enterprise was rewarded with two tries and a penalty with Ryan Harris touching down for Crusaders third try of the match.

With the score at 19-26, Crusaders pinned Mersea on their line, captain Lewis White crashed over only for the referee to have judged a second movement. With no time to restart the game the final whistle delighted the visiting supporters.

Elsewhere in Greene King Eastern Counties Division One, Swaffham drew 20-20 at Ipswich YM as their fine run of form continued. The promoted outfit extended their unbeaten spell to five matches thanks to tries from Jordan Mustard (2) and Marc Lockwood. Steve Greenwood kicked a conversion and a penalty. They sit fourth, 10 points off the top.

West Norfolk – who were top of the table going into the weekend – dropped down to second as Ely capitalised on the then-league leaders' fixtureless weekend. Ely beat Southwold 18-0 at home to move two points clear. They have however played a game more than Wests.