Almost 12 months had passed since Tring put Harpenden to the sword at Redbourn Lane last November but since then Harps have strung together a sixteen game unbeaten run at home. Tring were the opposition once again on Saturday afternoon but Harps battled to victory after going behind with just a few minutes left on the clock.

With the breeze behind them the home side started the game much the better with an early try after just 5 minutes from Tom Sweeney who finished superbly well following an offload by Freddie Simcott out of the tackle.

Despite missing his conversion, Sweeney was quick to add a penalty from in front of the posts to give Harps an eight point lead. It was the left winger again who then quickly turned defence into attack producing a 50:22 kick from inside his own 22 to put Harps deep into Tring territory. The resulting phases saw Sims ship the ball to Campion five metres out who barrelled over for his second try in as many home games.

Trailing by 15 points the Tring were desperate to get a foothold in the game. This came in the form of a penalty from 40 metres out to get themselves off the mark. Harps, however, were still hungry for more points and were unfortunate not to put themselves further ahead but a combination of committed Tring defence and poor execution of an overlap kept them at bay.

As half time approached the visitors rallied, following a yellow card for Gulliford after he was adjudged to have high tackled a Tring player on the break, they built substantial pressure but came away pointless as the whistle blew for the interval.

The blustery conditions were now in Tring’s favour and they steadily built further pressure as the boots of the Harpenden three quarters were unable to provide the relief in the same fashion they did in the first half.

Finally Tring’s growing presence in the Harpenden 22 paid off as they crashed over from short range following a 5 metre scrum. They were immediately back on the front foot only some last gasp defending from Simcott prevented a score within seconds of the kick off. However, following another 5 metre scrum it was the Tring back line that powered their way to the whitewash for a try and with the conversion added, the visitors were ahead for the first time in the game with 20 minutes remaining.

The game became increasingly scrappy with a number of penalties from both sides contributing to the growing tension. Tring tried to get their lineout drive firing with little to no avail. Harps dug deep in defence to create the opportunity they need to pinch the game.

After two penalties gave the home side vital yardage, they were still 50 metres from their target but from almost nothing the ball went from Attfield to Merrett who then found Simcott in space who beat three would be tacklers on his way to score a memorable try.

With the conversion hitting the post, Harps were still very much in range and with moments remaining a Tring penalty drifted wide to deny them a share of the points and give Harpenden another home victory to add to the pile.

Harpenden: Bloisi, Sims, Campion, Lacey, Sturley, Merrett, Attfield, Ward, Gulliford, Mann, Ashwell, Deane, McClean, Simcott, Sweeney.
Reps: Mackenzie-Cardy, Osborn, Shaw