Tabard are out of the Herts Presidents’ Tankard after losing to Hitchin 24-17 at Old Hale Way.

The visitors started the game well with the forwards establishing early dominance, and it led to the first score as Wilf Lake touched down after a catch a drive.

Full-back Elliot Hurrell was starting to look lively in the centre but on the 20 minute mark he had to leave the field with a nasty knee injury. In fact, Tabard were plagued by injuries throughout the afternoon, having lost George Stevens to a rib injury in the pre-match warm up.

Further knocks reduced them to 14 men for much of the second half. Max Templeman came off with a recurrence of his shoulder problem, Nigel Gough suffered a nasty clash of heads with second row Sam Barrow and later on in the game Nick Westaway sustained a hamstring strain.

The teams traded scores with Nick Woolley and Gerald Arasa dotting down as Tabard turned around 21-17 down.

The second half was a fairly ragged affair with few scoring chances created by either side.

Hitchin kicked a further three points as Tabard’s injuries began to mount up. Despite the disruption caused the injuries, Tabard continued to press for an equalising score, winning penalties and putting the ball in to the corner but Hitchin held out.

Team: Elliott Hurrell, John Aguila, Nick Woolley, George Stevens, Max Templeman, Gerald Arasa, Harold Gough, Bill Lake, Nigel Gough, Wilf Lake, Paul Wakelin, John Tilley, Nick Westaway, Zukisa Mcwabeni, Sam Barrow. Replacements: Alex Alter, Alex Milligan, Harry Smith, Mathew Monte-Columbo.