WELWYN maintained their winning start to the rugby season with a slender victory over Hampstead.

Both sides had opened their London League Three North West campaigns the previous weeks with wins. Welwyn triumphed 11-6 at home to Woodford, while Hampstead were emphatic 46-19 winners over Fullerians.

Welwyn's potent mix of experience and youth won Saturday's clash at Handside between two well-matched sides.

Although it was a low-scoring affair, with neither side ever more than a score ahead, the game was exciting to watch. Tension was maintained right to the end as Welwyn successfully defended a two-point lead for the final 12 minutes, including a seemingly endless amount of injury time.

The home team's superior fitness and determination to win in energy-sapping conditions carried them through to a narrow win. The most marked difference between the two teams was Welwyn's overwhelming superiority in the tight scrums, where Neil Smith was a worthy stand-in for usual hooker Simon Banks.

Props Jacques Naude and Grant Keeler are also looking even stronger than last year. All the forwards contributed well in this phase to form a very effective eight-man unit. Although at opposite ends of the age spectrum, William Freeston, just 18, and veteran skipper Austen Cox made a powerful second row.

Hampstead's nippy backs generally managed to salvage the poor ball they were getting from their own scrums to the extent that Welwyn's dominance here was not translated into a more complete overall superiority. However, it undoubtedly tired the Hampstead pack to the home team's benefit in the later stages.

The referee found it necessary to penalise a great many ruck and maul offences, which interrupted the flow of the game, but very few of these penalties were in a position to offer a chance at goal.

This reflects the fact that an unusually large proportion of the action took place nearer the halfway line than the respective try-lines, a consequence of good tackling by both sides.

Welwyn eventually opened the scoring midway through the first period through a team passing effort, involving Andrew Laycock and Mark Cullen - who both had outstanding games - and the second row pair. The try was well finished by centre Kris Birkin, who had earlier contributed two decisive tackles in defence.

Gareth Hughes kicked a straightforward conversion to make it 7-0.

Play continued to be fairly even, and in much the same vein as before, the highlight for Welwyn being a near pushover try.

However, Hampstead equalised two minutes before half-time. Their try started with Welwyn nearly pushing them off their own ball in a scrum, but the visiting backs recovered so well that a centre broke through and ran in for a try. The conversion levelled the scores.

The same pattern of play continued in the second half and Welwyn wisely introduced fresh legs. Of those that came on, former captain Mark Harris made his presence felt and it was good to see him back in first team action.

Hampstead, in contrast, left their substitutions until virtually the end of the game - by which time they were behind.

With only five minutes of ordinary time remaining, good pressure by the Welwyn forwards got them close to the line in the left-hand corner.

In the ensuing loose play, big No 8 Dave Orton, who has already shown he knows where the line is with a score against Woodford, went over for the winning try.

Welwyn were penalised for crossing at the subsequent kick-off, but the kickable penalty was missed.