Rugby Union

Kingsburians 7 Harpenden 40

HARPENDEN increased their stranglehold London Division Three North West by running in five tries in the first half against Kingsburians.

However, despite the final scoreline's impressive look, they should have notched up another 20 points or more such was their all-round superiority.

Harps went ahead after 16 minutes with a try from veteran centre Dave Talbot who rounded off a flowing move started by scrum half Rob Humphrey inside their 22.

Six minutes later right wing John Bentley scored a fabulous try when he took a great catch and scorched past two defenders to dive over in the corner.

Harps surged further ahead on 25 minutes when fly half Pete Stevenson, who enjoyed a great day with the boot, crashed over after hooker Des Collier had taken a ball against the head.

Further tries from Dumie Mliswa and Nick Sinfield put Harps into a commanding lead at half time but Kingsburians came back with a try just after the interval.

However, flanker Jon Arrowsmith then pounced on a loose ball to reinstate Harps' lead and complete the scoring.

Director of rugby Mike Parke said: "We did a lot of good things in the first half but we failed to vary our game enough in the second half.

"We must learn to do things more quickly."

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