RHINOS secured their second win in succession at the weekend, with Jade Murphy running in two of the visitors' six tries in Hampton. Haringey had previously recovered from a poor start to the campaign, kicking off with two defeats...

RUGBY UNION

Old Hamptonians 12

Haringey Rhinos 34

RHINOS secured their second win in succession at the weekend, with Jade Murphy running in two of the visitors' six tries in Hampton.

Haringey had previously recovered from a poor start to the campaign, kicking off with two defeats in London Division 3 North-West but recovering to beat Bank of England.

And, after a fortnight without a match, Rhinos picked up where they left off, flying out of the blocks and leading throughout the match.

There were only six minutes on the clock when winger Tom Vass brilliantly side-stepped his way past his marker and accelerated away from the chasing defence, touching down and then watching as full-back Gareth Jones converted.

Refusing to let up, Haringey continued to execute their training park drills with aplomb, and 15 minutes in the OH rearguard was again unable to repel the waves of phased attacks.

This time it was in-form fly-half Murphy who finished off the move, racing over the try-line for his first score of the day to give the guests a 12-0 lead.

Eight minutes later there was further punishment for the home side, as Ali Hewitt powered through the home defence and touched down for try number three.

With five minutes of the half remaining the job was already all but done. However, Rhinos' legendary talisman Alan Cooper then found himself on the wrong side of a ruck, and was shown a yellow card, giving him his first ever stint in the sin-bin.

As the clock ticked down towards the half-time whistle, OH took advantage of their extra man and, finding an overlap out wide, grabbed their first try of the game.

Despite the setback, Haringey still held a 17-5 advantage at the restart and, starting the second period with the same intensity as the first, they soon extended their lead.

Just five minutes of the half had passed when Murphy again jinked his way through the cover to score his second try of the match, thanks in large part to some fantastic handling and support play from his forwards.

Ten minutes later John McDervitt benefited from another sweeping move, latching onto an incisive pass and racing away to score out wide.

Regrettably, Rhinos were punished by the referee for another silly mistake, as skipper Matt Brown was yellow-carded, and OH immediately scored their second try.

It mattered little, as Rhinos still had a 27-12 cushion with 15 minutes remaining, and Old Hamptonians were unable to narrow the gap any further in the closing stages.

Instead Haringey deservedly produced the final score, rounding off a strong performance soon after Brown had returned them to their full complement.

The impish Cooper swerved and shimmied through a number of tacklers and touched down under the posts.

No.8 Cameron Howson, who had also filled in for Brown at hooker during his skipper's spell in the sin-bin, showed his versatility again by successfully slotting a drop-kick conversion through the posts.

The win takes Haringey up to seventh in the table, two points off the lead after four games.

This Saturday Tim Hutchins' side host West London RFC, who sit two places and two points above the Rhinos, at White Hart Lane Community Sports Centre on White Hart Lane, Wood Green.

Haringey Rhinos: Jones, Vass, Brassey, Cooper, McDevitt, Murphy, Fletcher (Bernard), Howson, Jakens, Feek, Handley, Hewitt, Thompson, Brown, Burrows.