Abbots pull clear with impressive away win
League leaders stretch gap to five points after victory
LEAGUE leaders Hillingdon Abbots strengthened their hold at the top of Herts/Middx Two with a big win over Watford on Saturday.
Abbots scored an impressive 12 tries to beat the hosts 78-12 and move five points clear of London French at the summit.
It took just 60 seconds for Abbots fly-half Elliot Wake to put the first points on the board, breaching the hosts’ defence and converting his own try.
Watford, immediately on the back foot, struggled to get any real momentum and found themselves stuck in their 22.
As tempers rose, a yellow card was shown to one of the hosts and a minute later the red was out after an Abbots player was taken over the horizontal and dumped to the ground.
The restart saw forward Neil Gordge carve his way through the shattered defensive line for the first of his four tries on the day.
Further tries from Dave Francis, Gordge and Kyle Buckingham and a 40th minute score from the hosts took Abbots into the break with a 38-5 lead.
Buckingham picked up where he left off after the restart, breaking away on the counterattack to score his second.
A momentary lapse allowed Watford to steal in for their second try, which was converted, but that was as good as it got for the hosts.
Gordge, Francis, Ben Foster and a late Hayden Elliot effort completed the job in style, with kicker Wake racking up 23 points of Abbots’ 78 total.
Hillingdon are at home to fifthplaced Harlequin Amateurs this weekend.
In the same division, Uxbridge continue to struggle to find form and were beaten 34-14 by Saracens Amateurs leaving them third-from bottom in the standings ahead of Saturday’s trip to Watford.
Ickenham, who travel to Quintin at the weekend, went down 64-14 to Old Isleworthians.
Elsewhere, Old Merchant Taylors’ sit ninth in London Two North West, following a 23-15 reverse to Chiswick, and they play at Hampstead on Saturday.
London One North outfit Ruislip lost 53-10 at Colchester at the weekend and will hope for a better result when Woodford come to town this weekend.