Three wins in a row for in-form Westcliff

The victory made it three London & SE Premier Division wins out of three for Westcliff.

And director of rugby Rick Compton was full of praise for the performance.

“This was by far our best performance of the season and probably the recent past,” said Compton.

“I am delighted with the lads, all 18 of them.

“Hertford are a very good side. They will probably reflect on what went wrong as you do on such days but, make no mistake, they turned up. This was not a case of how off they were, it was all about how good we were.

“Nevertheless, what’s done is done and Tunbridge Wells will not allow us to dwell on the result when we visit on Saturday.”

Despite the final scoreline, it was Hertford who broke the deadlock with an unconverted try at the weekend before Westcliff suffered a further blow when a yellow card reduced them to 14 men.

However, the hosts reacted strongly with tries from Greg Bannister and Ben McKeith and a penalty from Jack Jones to lead 17-5.

Jones soon added another three points to put Westcliff further ahead before the break and the home side started the second half strongly, with Charlie Brown touching down.

McKeith added the conversion before Billy Morrant also scored another try.

Moments later, Jones - restored to kicking duties after treatment - added another penalty but Westcliff stayed on top and went further ahead when Sam Brown finished off a sweeping move.

Hertford hit back to score a consolation try with the final play of the game but Westcliff were worthy and convincing winners and are now just one of two teams to have started the London & SE Premier Division with three successive wins.

Westcliff, who sit second, will now be looking to build on their bright start when they head to sixth-placed Tunbridge Wells this weekend.

Westcliff: Bannister, Merrick, Stol, J Jones, Spivey, McKeith, H Morrant, C Brown, B Morrant, Binneman, Scogings, Anderson-Brown, Vandermolen, Hatton, J Smith

Replacements:Weston, Marsh & S Brown