It was a bad day at the office for Harpenden as they fell to a heavy 53-22 defeat at Southend Saxons.

They shipped eight tries in the process and the result ended a run of two successive victories as well as dropping them down to eighth in London One North.

The positive though was they did manage to get a four-try bonus point as Hamish Renwick, Matt Deane, Ed Preston and Michael Goode all crossed the line.

Tom Sweeney was able to add one conversion to these but they were up against it for the moment Ben Lloyd kicked Southend into a 3-0 lead after just three minutes.

Sweeney had to produce a try-saving tackle to stop one home score and they got to half-time just 15-7 in arrears.

But the floodgates opened in the second half and as well as losing Billy Sach to injury, they also had to endure 10 minutes with a man less following a yellow card for Deane.

They do have the chance for a quick response though when winless Ruislip visit Redbourn Lane on Saturday.