London North West Three UCS Old Boys 20 St Albans 10 ST ALBANS dwindling hopes of promotion were dealt a near fatal blow with defeat at the hands of UCS Old Boys on Saturday. University College School, which is clearly a finishing school for New Zealan

London North West Three

UCS Old Boys 20 St Albans 10

ST ALBANS' dwindling hopes of promotion were dealt a near fatal blow with defeat at the hands of UCS Old Boys on Saturday.

University College School, which is clearly a finishing school for New Zealand boys, deserved their victory but St Albans contributed hugely to their own downfall. Again denied several key players through injury and unavailability, Saints produced an uneven performance and only during the initial exchanges and again late in the game did they produce any play of note.

Earlier in the season St Albans had despatched the Old Boys in some style, and during the first few minutes of this match a similar score seemed likely.

The St Albans forwards again dominated the scrums but the much changed back line failed to take advantage, and a series of good attacking positions were wasted. Gradually UCS upped their game. Although their forwards struggled to provide good possession from the scrums, their influential stand off made the most of the scraps to launch several dangerous attacks.

UCS opened the scoring on 30 minutes with a penalty, and just before half time they opened the try scoring with a well worked score in the corner. The conversion was missed and Saints turned round eight points down.

In the second half St Albans' play did improve, and they often played through several phases of play retaining possession well but they lacked a cutting edge and the home side's defence coped well.

UCS for their part were still the more decisive side and it was not long before they extended their lead. Their stand off ghosted through a non-existent defence to score by the posts before adding the conversion himself.

The home side extended their lead with 15 minutes left when their winger sprinted in for his second try. At this point St Albans upped the energy levels and burst into life. Their continued forward dominance at last brought reward when scrum half Andrew Still finished off a forward drive.

Unfortunately the conversion from Mark Kentish drifted wide of the posts. With the last move of the game St Albans brought some respectability to the score. Another forward drive was finished off by wing forward Dave Callan. Again Kentish saw his kick drift wide. The Man of the Match award went to Brenton Lemiere. St Albans now have a week's break and must hope that some of the absentees recover. The next game is at home against Hampstead on the March 28.