Mike Evans-Jones racked up another impressive points tally as Hendon continued their resurgence, winning 39-6 at Quintin to secure a third consecutive victory and move up into sixth place in Herts/Middlesex Division Two.
Hendon sat in the bottom two spots midway through November, but back-to-back home wins over Ickenham and Chess Valley were followed by a comprehensive victory away at Quintin on Saturday, taking them further away from trouble.
Once again, fly-half Evans-Jones provided the majority of the points – 23 on this occasion – and it was he who opened the scoring after 10 minutes, intercepting the ball on the halfway line and touching down before adding the conversion himself.
Both sides defended well, but Hendon extended their lead after 20 minutes as Paul Julian powered through from a maul and offloaded to Evan-Jones, who finished the move and again added the extras.
Quintin immediately responded with a strong surge, forcing Jamie Connolly into a try-saving tackle – and the hosts subsequently converted a penalty to get their first points on the board.
Hendon were soon back on the attack with their forwards charging towards the line and, when Dave Connell was stopped just short, Quintin were penalised and Evans-Jones slotted another kick between the uprights to put his side 17-3 up.
Quintin were on top at the end of the first half and, although Hendon stood firm – marshalled by full-back Tom Mathias – they took advantage of another penalty to cut the deficit to 17-6 at the interval.
That proved to be the home side’s final score though as the visitors ran away with the game in the second period.
Mathias collected a kick and fed John Paul Cremin, who set up a ruck, and No8 Mike Fawcett picked up and scored, with Evan-Jones converting to establish a 24-6 lead.
The hosts kept their confident visitors at bay until the final quarter, but a superb attacking run from captain Gerry O’Donoghue set up a chance for Cremin, who was stopped just short – and Fawcett picked the ball up, pushed off three defenders and crossed the whitewash for the second time.
Hendon scored their fifth try straight from the restart as the forwards pushed upfield, and John McCarthy spotted a gap and crashed through to secure a bonus point, with Evans-Jones adding one last conversion to his persoinal contribution.
Hendon entertain the joint league leaders Saracen Amateurs this Saturday in their last outing of 2013.
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