London North West Three St Albans 12 Twickenham 28 St Albans failed to take advantage of favourable results elsewhere when they crashed to a surprise defeat at the hands of Twickenham. This was a poor performance from a side still in the promotion mix,

London North West Three

St Albans 12 Twickenham 28

St Albans failed to take advantage of favourable results elsewhere when they crashed to a surprise defeat at the hands of Twickenham.

This was a poor performance from a side still in the promotion mix, against a very committed side who are not yet safe from relegation.

From the first 20 minutes of play there was little sign that anything really untoward was about to happen.

The St Albans pack was generally on top providing good possession and, although the Twickenham line was not threatened, St Albans played some attractive rugby. Mark Kentish put the home side ahead on 23 minutes which was almost immediately answered by the Twickenham stand off.

On 30 minutes Twickenham took the lead with an excellent drop goal, and on the stroke of half time Kentish levelled the scores with another penalty.

St Albans started the second half very brightly and were unlucky not to score a try in the first minute.

However, having been thwarted on the line the referee took play back for a simple penalty which Kentish slotted over. With a large contingent of well dined VP's looking on, the prospect of a good victory was expected.

Twickenham had very different ideas and completely dominated the rest of the game.

The fact that their scrum failed to function adequately all afternoon did not seem to inconvenience them as they ran St Albans ragged.

They ran in four second half tries and, had their kicker, who only managed one conversion, not been wayward, they would have been even further ahead at the end.

For Saints only another Kentish penalty was added. Next week St Albans travel to UCS Old Boys hoping to make amends.