Ruthless Staines get promotion bid back on track

Staines put their promotion push firmly back on track with an emphatic home win against Letchworth on Saturday, putting into perspective the surprising loss to this side earlier in the season, writes Tony Brightwell.

The London Two North top three are now well ahead of the pack and it looks like it will be a dogfight between these clubs to determine the promotion places.

The early pressure was all Staines, who, after a somewhat nervous start, attacked the Letchworth defence at every opportunity.

Scrum-half Richard Scott was unlucky to be denied a try when he was dispossessed on the line following an electric break.

However, the home side opened the scoring in the 16th minute, when hooker Stefan Myburg crossed for a try following a move involving several players.

The same player went on to score the next two Staines tries, with the home side producing genuine width in their attacking play, stretching the Letchworth defence on several occasions.

His hat-trick of tries was completed by the start of the second half, when Staines, now playing with a stiff breeze at their backs, used the elements to set up several dangerous positions deep in Letchworth territory.

From a lineout in the opposition's 22, the home side drove the ball on, sucking in several defenders.

Myburg burst out of the maul, and beating two players to score. The conversion was successful to make it 17-0.

Junior Harrison, Staines's giant lock-forward, then scored following a similar catch and drive from an attacking line out.

With the game virtually sewn up, Staines reduced to 14 men after a player was sin-binned, and Letchworth exploited this, with their scrum-half breaking from the base of the scrum to score a good individual try.

Staines replied almost from the restart, when outside half Andy Regan exploited a handling error in the Letchworth back line and offloaded to centre Jon Turner, who dashed over the tryline to secure another five points.

Letchworth were not quite ready to quit, however. Attacking from deep, they launched a speculative kick towards the touchline and behind the Staines defence. The ball bounced favourably for the Letchworth wing, who gathered to score.

The try of the game was scored by Staines Harrison when, following another sweeping Staines attack, he received the ball on the Letchworth 22m line and, at pace and throwing in several sidesteps, charged to the line.

The game was wrapped up five minutes from the end, when Staines, unlike last week, were making every use of the breezy conditions.

Fly-half replacement Dave Knill kicked a high, hanging ball deep into the Letchworth half. Centre Jon Turner was quickly up on the opposition defenders and scored an opportunist try when he was first to a wickedly bouncing ball, running in from 20m.

Staines now have a weekend off and a useful break in proceedings before some difficult matches in February, including the league encounter with Chingford and the cup game against Birkenhead Park.