St Albans boosted their hopes of survival in London Two North West with a 57-7 thrashing of basement side Hemel Hempstead.

With three games left, St Albans are four points behind Old Merchant Taylors’, who lost to Harpenden on Saturday. The Saints next step in their survival bid comes on March 21 away at HAC.

A home game against high-flying Chiswick follows on March 28 before the season comes to a close on April 11 at OMTs.

After recording their biggest win of the season, St Albans will go into the remainder of the campaign with their tails up.

It took just six minutes for St Albans to unlock the defence but scrum-half Heemi Peina knocked on as he dived over the line. The visitors were unable to profit from the let-off as, on 30 minutes, Mark Kentish went over and then kicked the conversion.

Having a found a successful formula, Kentish repeated the trick, joining the back line at speed, to dot down for his second try. His kick sailed wide but St Albans went into the break leading 12-0.

Hemel couldn’t handle the Saints in the second half as secure handling and generous support saw Fraser Morris and then Mike Bennet cross the whitewash for the bonus-point. Declan Hallam added a well-worked try before Ross Taylor went over to take the lead to 38-0. Hemel replied with a try and conversion but it was a mere consolation as Dan Satchell sprinted over the line twice before Brenton Lemiere completed a comprehensive thrashing.