Herts/Middlesex One: Watford 24 UCS Old Boys 22

A late fightback from UCS Old Boys proved in vein as they went down 24-22 at Watford in Herts/Middlesex One.

Play began with a Watford knock-on giving Ben Brooks on the wing a clear scoring overlap, though the referee brought play back without playing an advantage.

After fifteen minutes, a Watford-won scrum led to a centre’s breakthrough try, which was converted.

Ten minutes later, UCS drove over from a lineout with Alex Turton touching down, though the conversion was missed.

With ten minutes left in the first half, an opposition centre broke through the Old Boys defence to touch down under the posts for a converted try as the hosts led 14-5 at the break.

At the beginning of the second half, Old Boys had a wing sent to the sin bin for a stiff-arm tackle, but the visitors were not unduly impeded by being a man light.

There followed an impressive try under the posts from Chris Bean direct from a penalty, which was converted as Old Boys trailed 14-12.

Five minutes later, Tim Hyland then took UCS into the lead by one point with a further penalty kick.

The Watford response was swift, with an unconverted try three minutes later seeing them lead 19-15.

With seven minutes to go, the game took an even more nail-biting turn when a UCS kick from hand failed to reach touch and was returned by a Watford back, who ran through to extend the hosts’ lead.

It was after this that the UCS fightback began in earnest, with four minutes of play left when, from a scrum, Bean broke round the side to crunch through some of the defence.

Bean delivered a superbly-timed pass to debutant Tom Conchie, who took his chance to power through the remainder of the Watford pack at a sharp angle to score.

Hyland put the conversion between the uprights, making it a two-point game with two minutes to go.

Several phases of UCS possession ended with the final whistle as the hosts suffered a narrow defeat.

UCS visit Saracens Amateurs on Friday.