Hendon lose their power struggle against the Druids while UCS Old Boys sink to the bottom

Hendon dropped to seventh place in Herts/Middlesex Division One after a weakened team suffered a chastening 49-19 defeat away against London Welsh ‘Druids’.

The visitors, who lacked power in their pack and struggled in the forwards’ battle, were on the back foot from the start and found themselves 20-0 down after 30 minutes as two penalties were followed by two converted tries.

Hendon then fought their way back into the game. Cian Hynes broke through and set up Chris Kyingi, with Hynes converting – and although the Druids scored again at the other end, Donal O’Sullivan and TJ O’Sullivan both crossed the whitewash either side of the break to narrow the gap to 27-19.

That was as close as Hendon got, though, and they conceded four more tries while missing out on a bonus point.

Meanwhile, an injury-hit UCS Old Boys outfit find themselves at the bottom of the table after losing for the fifth time in a row and also having their sole victory of the season scrapped from the record.

UCS thrashed Hillingdon Abbots 82-5 in their first game but Hillingdon – who were bottom of the pile last week – have dropped out of the league and the result no longer stands.

The expectation is that only one team will be relegated, instead of two, but the Old Boys are five points adrift with only two points on the board after losing 44-25 away against second-placed London French on Saturday.

UCS did, however, secure a bonus point after tries from Gwyn Edwards, Ben Boyles, Nathaniel Breakwell, Ryan Warner and Tom Arnold.