Hendon made a winning start to the new year and consolidated their sixth-place position after triumphing 38-3 at West London in Herts/Middlesex Division Two on Saturday.

While the majority of the rugby fixtures were postponed due to waterlogged pitches, the West London field was in near-perfect condition – and the visitors picked up their fourth win from five games to move eight points clear of seventh-placed Ickenham.

Brian O’Regan returned from his wedding in Ireland to score the first two tries, and Judah Simpson and Mark Ivers gave Hendon a four-try bonus point before half-time, while Terry Gilbride and captain Ger O’Donoghue touched down after the interval.

West London took the lead with a 20th-minute penalty, but that was to be their only score.

From the restart, David Connell won a try against the head, JP Cremin was stopped just short and O’Regan crossed the line after a 15-metre maul.

O’Regan’s second try followed 10 minutes later after another rolling maul, and Lee Linale added the conversion to put his side 12-3 up.

Hendon’s back line then took over as Linale made a move down the blindside from a tap penalty, and Simpson sprinted 30 metres, seeing off three tackles, to touch down under the posts, while Linale converted again.

Hendon got their fourth try from yet another rolling maul in the final play of the first period, with flanker Mark Ivers going over in the corner – and Linale’s slotted his conversion from the touchline to put the visitors 26-3 ahead at the interval.

The forwards continued to dominate after the break, and prop Terry Gilbride pushed his way over for a converted try before Hendon lost a player to the sin-bin.

With 10 minutes to go, and having been restored to full strength, centre and captain O’Donoghue added the icing on the cake with his side’s sixth try of the day.