Short of injured Captain Zac Osborne and Vice Captain Craig Holton it was left to young winger Alex Chalcraft to lead the Tows against the Southend side sitting 5th in the London and SE Premier League.

It was Tows who started strongly with returning back rower Jamie Warr, in his first game of the season, putting Tows in front with an unconverted try, Westcliff responding with a period of sustained pressure eventually leading to them scoring a try of their own, this time converted to take back the lead, Tows then enjoyed their best period of the game retaining possession for dutch centre Alex Povel to spin out of tackles and score beneath the posts, Ben Roe converting, a break from the base of the scrum from no.8 warr lead to a penalty which was despatched by Roe to extend Tows lead to 15 - 7, Tows injury woes upfront and fragile scrum though went against them, a series of scrum penalties leading to a pushover try for the visitors and a yellow card for Tows prop James Hodges on the stroke of halftime.

Tows still led by a single point and needed a strong start in the second half, but with injured Tows prop Alistair Donkor having to return in place of Hodges, Tows scrum creaked and the visitors no.8 enjoyed complete control at the base and went over for a second pushover try to take the lead.

With their tail up the visitors ran in two more tries to take control of the game, although with Tows living off scraps of limited possession refused to give up, Alex Chalcraft squeezing over in the corner with Roe converting from the touchline, in an attempt to run from their own line Tows conceded a final try and conversion ending the game.

Tows depleted 2nd XV went down to Westcliffs 2nd's 5 - 15 while the Colts came up short against Buckingham 12 - 15