ST ALBANS crashed out of the NPI Cup on Saturday, November 3, after falling at the hands of a strong London Scottish team by 28-6.

The London team had the better of the early exchanges as St Albans were repeatedly penalised for offences in the tackle forcing them to concede field position through the referee's whistle.

St Albans resisted wave after wave of attack but failed to read a simple decoy move which allowed Scottish centre, Hugh McKing to touch down with his brother, Iain, adding the conversion to give London an early seven point lead.

Saints rallied and looking to turn the Scots, elected to drive the ball up through their forwards and run every penalty. But the final pass too often went to ground and the Scottish defence held firm.

Eventually, the pressure from the Scottish line-out told on Saints and it was not long before they conceded a kickable penalty and a further three points to extend London's lead.

A Stevenson penalty on half time gave Saints a lifeline as the teams turned round with Scottish leading 10-3.

The second half began with a bang as St Albans threw everything into attack. The canny Scots held firm, content to give away a penalty to halt Saints' advance and Stevenson added three points.

From the restart, St Albans turned the Scots and Saints' front row of Trippic, Hume and Batchalor carried the ball into the heart of the opposition.

Saints chipped ahead but the cover defence beat racing winger Bayes and the resulting 22-drop out was the sucker punch that turned the game for the Scots.

A clever grubber kick found the Scots' fullback unmarked and an 80-meter dash gave them the vital try and an excellent conversion, the extra points.

November 7, 2001 15:45