Welwyn 18 - Harpenden 25

Welwyn slipped to a disappointing defeat at home to Harpenden on Saturday.

Although Welwyn played very well at times and certainly showed plenty of spirit and commitment, they far too often negated their own efforts through unforced errors. These mistakes allowed their opponents from Redbourn Lane to keep the lead for most of the game and eventually win the match. Both forwards and backs made elementary mistakes with unnecessary frequency that allowed Harpenden to return home victorious.

A strong Welwyn side included Rob Picken at No 8 for the first time and he played a full part, most noticeably in attacking moves around the scrum. The home team started strongly, with a fine tackle by Luke Williams stopping the big, hard-running Harpenden No 8 in his tracks and setting the early tone.

The Welwyn forwards won loose ball or gained penalties in the Harpenden half and eventually made the pressure count with a try. A poor clearance kick by the visitors, under pressure from Rob James, gave Welwyn a line-out 10 yards out. Stalwart Austen Cox, as so often, took clean ball and was pushed over by a concerted effort from his fellow forwards, with the touchdown for the unconverted try being made by Jacques Naude.

Harpenden were allowed to come back into the game, and a Welwyn line-out error let the dangerous visiting No 8 run through to make about 30 yards. When he was brought down, Welwyn conceded a penalty and Harpenden made no mistake. Harpenden took the lead soon after. They won their own scrum 10 yards inside the Welwyn half and their fast-running backs eluded the defence for a good try that was converted off the post.

The visitors were reduced to 14 men for the final 10 minutes of the half when one of their props was sin-binned, but this did not allow Welwyn to dominate.

Gareth Hughes did pull back three points on the stroke of half-time with a penalty to leave Welwyn just two behind.

The home team again started the second half strongly and were on top for a long period, with Kyle Birkin, Ed Knapp and Luke Williams all showing well in attacking moves and earning several penalties, but no score came. It was Harpenden who put the next points on the board with two tries in quick succession. Both were made by the hard and co-ordinated running of their three-quarters, who stretched a thin defence in similar manner to their try in the first half.

Now 14 points adrift, Welwyn were left with a lot to do to win the match, and it is to their credit that they came close to succeeding. The fightback began with an interception by Kyle Birkin. He ran half the length of the field to score an unconverted try out wide.

The home team played their best rugby in the closing minutes and demonstrated their real capability. This produced a try by Williams in the right-hand corner to round off a fine all-round contribution by the winger. He also failed narrowly with the conversion, kicking instead of Hughes, who was by now off the field injured.

Welwyn conceded a penalty from the kick-off and the Harpenden full back put his team seven points ahead at the finish.