Rugby: Haringey Rhinos return to form

Haringey Rhinos returned to form with a 28-20 win over Cuffley in Herts Middlesex Division Two.

The visitors opened the scoring with a converted try, but Rhinos rallied as Tom Pert, Dan Quinn and Owen McKenna impressed in the front row.

Charlie Rigg, Andy Emmot and Ben Watkins combined before Pascal O’Neil put Dan Rycroft over for a try which he also converted.

But Cuffley went 12-7 up after McKenna was sin-binned, before Rycroft converted Jock McGregor’s after the visitors received two yellow cards.

Fine running by Will Howie helped Rigg go under the posts and he also set up captain Owain Luckwell, with both tries converted by Rycroft to make it 28-12.

Cuffley replied with a penalty and, after Hugo Murray’s yellow card for a late tackle, added a try in the corner late on.

But Rhinos held on for the bonus-point win, with Tom Shirt named their man of the match for his distribution and running in the centre.

And they will hope for more points this weekend at West London, who have lost four of their six matches so far.

*Haringey Rhinos women were also celebrating after a hard-earned 15-10 win at Marlow.

Returning to action after a three-week break, but with only 13 players, Haringey fell behind to a converted try from the home side.

But they employed some good counter-rucking to allow winger Laura MacNeil to slice through the Marlow defence and touch down for their first try of the game.

Marlow added a penalty to their tally early in the second half, but that was as good as it got for them, as some swift passing in the Rhinos backs allowed captain Aimee Foulkes to capitalise on a well-timed run and go over the line to level the match score at 10-10.

Foulkes went over for a second try, producing another dramatic finish, but Marlow put plenty of pressure on the Rhinos line in the closing minutes.

Haringey, who ended the match with only 12 players, stood firm, though, and repeatedly denied their rivals to hold on for a memorable victory.