Morgan doubles up to catch Kiwis in the Act

London New Zealand 10

Hampstead 18

A Tristan Morgan double secured victory for Hampstead as they travelled to Acton to face London New Zealand in the London League Division Two on Saturday.

After two disappointing losses, Hampstead were determined to record a win and Morgan's first try saw them take an 8-3 lead into half-time.

An early second-half response from the Kiwis took the score to 10-8 but Morgan ran in again 10 minutes from time to ensure Hampstead's second victory of the season over the Kiwi outfit.

The opening 20 minutes were closely contested and the deadlock was only broken when the home side were penalised for holding on in their own 22, and Hampstead's Dave Mold converted the resulting penalty.

Their advantage didn't last long though as the Kiwis quickly hit back with their own penalty to level the score.

This prompted Hampstead to change tactics, bringing the forwards more into the game with driving mauls and scrum pressure.

The shift in tactics paid off for Hampstead as they edged ahead again just before half-time, as Morgan touched down from a push-over scrum after the pack had twice been held up over the try line in previous forays.

London New Zealand came out fighting in the second half and responded with a converted try after their number eight bulldozed his way over to give the home side a 10-8 lead.

But Hampstead took control of the game from that point onwards, and capitalised on a tired Kiwi outfit with another Mold penalty 15 minutes from time to put themselves in the driving seat.

Morgan then completed a determined team move to break through the home side's defence five minutes later, running in his second for Mold to convert and secure an 11th victory of the season for Hampstead.

Hampstead make the short trip to UCS for their local derby on Saturday.

Hampstead: Henderson (Nolan), Martyr, Paul, Godding, Griffiths, Perkins (Beswick), Worters, Morgan, Tocock, Mold, Loakman (Fehnert), Thomas, Evans, Redfern, Craigs.