MISTLEY Rugby Club hosted their annual President's Day game.

They were up against players from Colchester Roundheads, Clacton, Hadleigh, Ipswich Magpies, Brightlingsea, Harwich and some former Mistley players.

Watched by a large crowd, there was some spectacular rugby played and the spoils were evenly shared.

Over 30 Mistley players took part and all played in either the first or second half.

James Wilbraham was referee for the afternoon.

Within the first five minutes, Kyle Fox, who has improved with every game, drew first blood by going over the line.

The conversion was missed by Matt Course.

However, the President's team quickly responded to score a try that was duly converted.

A penalty was then awarded and pushed the score to 10-5.

Alastair Baggiony-Taylor picked up the ball from a high kick to fly over the line in the corner and level the score.

With great scrum work from veteran Bertie Baxter and young Jess Fearn, Fearn was able to score his second try this season.

Jack Tompkins took over kicking duties from Course to bring the score to 17-10 at half-time.

With fresh faces in the the second half, it was the turn of Mark Dove to show flashes of his former past and crash through the President's side to push the score further ahead to 22-10.

There was also some excellent play from Charlie Barrett, Tompkins, Dicky Johnson, Stephen Betts, Harry Kerins and Reece Kirkham.

However, the President's side began to show their years of experience as David Sumo powered over the line to score, with Ian Bart converting at 22-17.

A flurry of tries then followed from Course, converted by Gary Booker, and Adam Kinsmore-Ward, for Mistley, and John Vine and Adam Eldridge, for the President's team, to level the score at 36-36.

This was a fair result and the first time this fixture had ended in a draw.

Mistley president William Meston thanked everyone for the game, speaking afterwards at The Anchor.

Special thanks were given to Debbie Handford, for providing excellent food, as she has done throughout the season, together with Janet Cole and Tom Newman, of The Anchor, for all their hard work and sponsorship.

In addition, an award was given to Dai Kenyon, the Mistley coach, for his all his hard work and service for the club over the last five years and he was warmly applauded.