BISHOP'S Stortford Rugby Club took on Old Verulamians last weekend, but could only take a share of the points.

A long range penalty after a late tackle was as close as Stortford got in the first quarter.

The Stortford forwards rucked well, with the gain line being broken again and again, until the home side gave away a penalty with Stuart Haslam slotting over for a three-point lead.

In injury time, OVs put the ball wide to their left-winger and though the pass did not go to hand, he kicked ahead on the volley and tried to recover the ball at pace.

The referee was caught on the wrong side and did not see the ball knocked-on, only seeing the result of the winger diving on the ball over the line to give them a 5-3 lead at half time.

From the restart, pressure on the receivers saw OV's concede a penalty, but the opprtunity for Stortford to capitalise was squandered by Haslam.

OVs added a penalty of their own at the other end to go 8-3 ahead, only to see Haslam close the gap with a penalty.

From a set scrum on the OV's 10-metre line Gareth Crockett made a last gasp-tackle and ran in a try for Stortford, retaking the lead at 11-8.

As stoppage time approached Stortford seemed to have scraped a win when a determined OVs attack resulted in a fair catch by Stuart Haslam.

However, once again he missed what should have been an easy touch kick and the resulting OVs possession saw them win a penalty which was converted to leave a final score of 11-11.