Herts/Middlesex One: Bank of England 14 Hendon 17

Hendon recorded a superb 17-14 success on their trip to high-flying Bank of England in Herts/Middlesex One.

From the off, the visitors pushed the Bank team into their own half for 15 minutes, but came away with nothing to show.

The hosts then took advantage through their experienced backs, but resilient tackling from Toby Ikwueke, Billy Burrell and Mike Culhane kept the Bank out.

On the attack, runs by Hendon pair Chris Kiyingi and Cian Hynes were stopped short, while the visitors also missed a penalty as the teams went into half time level at 0-0.

In the second period, the visiting pack took the ball to the Bank 22 and saw TJ Sullivan collect it from a rolling maul, but he was illegally stopped.

Burrell took a quick tap penalty to dive over the whitewash for Hendon’s first points out wide, but the conversion was missed.

From the restart, the away side conceded a penalty deep into their own half with Bank spinning the ball down their line, but Chris Kiyingi intercepted the last pass.

Kiyingi quickly passed to flanker Harry Charles, who ran in from the Hendon 22 to score a try and put Hendon 10-0 up.

From midfield play, Bank tried to penetrate the away defence without success until the 65th minute when they crossed for a converted score.

From the restart, Tom Mathius at fullback collected the ball to set up a rolling maul, from which Charles broke free.

Charles passed to fellow forward Donal O’Sullivan, who ran through the Bank defence to score Hendon’s third try, which was converted as the visitors led 17-10.

Late on, Bank’s backline pushed Hendon into defence with an overlap eventually emerging and the home side went over to make it a three-point game.

Despite a nailbiting finale, the visitors were able to hold on to their lead to enjoy a well-earned success.

The win sees Hendon remain ninth in the table ahead of a two-week break from the league.

Hendon return to league action on March 3 when they host London French.