By BEN JAYCOCK
At the end of last season, Essex were promoted to Division 2 but faced a daunting start to this season’s Bill Beaumont County Championship, without any players from their highest ranked club Colchester.
Colchester secured promotion to National Two East after storming to the Regional 1 South East title but Essex head coach Steve Killington says none of their players were available for yesterday’s season opener.
Essex reached the Division 3 final last year, losing to Oxfordshire 42-7 at Twickenham but were moved into the second tier competition.

Champs: Colchester will be in N...