League London North West Three St Albans 36 UCS Old Boys 12 ST Albans continued their fine start to the season with a convincing win against UCS Old Boys on Saturday. On a surprisingly warm day and on a firm pitch St Albans ran UCS ragged

League London North West Three

St Albans 36 UCS Old Boys 12

ST Albans continued their fine start to the season with a convincing win against UCS Old Boys on Saturday.

On a surprisingly warm day and on a firm pitch St Albans ran UCS ragged in the first half, as the forwards dominated the opposition pack, which allowed the backs to attack.

From the kick off, Saints applied pressure on the UCS line and a succession of scrums and drives took play to within inches of the line. For the first 10 minutes UCS tackled like demons but the pressure told as a five-yard scrum was shunted over the line and scrum half Nick Lister dived over. Mark Kentish added the conversion from wide out.

During the next 20 minutes, St Albans ran the ball at every opportunity. First stand off Charlie Howard, returning to the team after a year out through injury, finished off a sweeping move to score under the posts. Then after 29 minutes, veteran Nick Lister, enjoying an Indian summer to his playing days, strolled over for his second try after another tremendous forward drive, and Ed Coy added a fourth try before half time. The accurate boot of Mark Kentish added two more conversions and a penalty.

In the heat it was difficult to maintain the intensity of the first half. UCS also changed their game plan and opted for a high risk run at all costs strategy. This caught St Albans napping in the early stages and UCS were able to reduce the deficit with a breakaway try in the first minutes of the second half.

The rest of the half was generally a scrappy affair. St Albans continued to dominate the set pieces but failed to capitalise on their advantage, whilst UCS tried to keep the ball away from the forwards as much as they could.

The frantic style of play was high risk and UCS paid the price with 10 minutes remaining when second row Mike Lane intercepted a loose ball and 30 seconds later centre John Andrews was placing the ball under the posts. Kentish again added the conversion.

The final score was also the final action of the match as a favourable bounce allowed the UCS winger to collect and enjoy a free run to the line. The conversion was added for a final score of 36-12 to Saints.

Once again coaches Lister and Mark Trude were very pleased with the performance, and on Saturday St Albans travel to Twickenham in confident mood.