HAMPSTEAD Ladies kept up their promotion hopes with a comfortable 26-5 win at home to Romford.

Hampstead tore at Romford from the kick-off, with a quick try from forward of the match Jen Harvey (pictured above), a run down the wing from the back of the match Anita Oliver, who cut inside to score under the posts, and another from Alex Bowtell. All were converted by Maja Melendez.

The Hampstead forwards rucked hard, set up several rolling mauls that gained them valuable ground and dominated the scrum, eventually forcing Romford to go uncontested.

In the second half Romford came back at Hampstead and exerted consistent pressure, resulting in a try from their forwards.

But Hampstead struck back in the closing minutes – a pick and go from Marcella Collins was popped off to scrum half Melendez, who ran the try.