SOUTHEND Saxons turned on the style to beat Harpenden 55-35 at Warners Bridge.

Saxons scored eight tries to win the London One North clash.

And Southend flanker Stuart Whatling felt it was one of the side’s best performances of the season.

“It’s certainly up there,” said Whatling.

“We’ve had some convincing wins against the teams around us including Eton Manor at home and Sudbury away but this one had an element of jeopardy with promotion chances on the line so it was an enjoyable win.

“To score 55 points against a team as strong as Harpenden shows how ruthless our attack was and we got what we deserved with the intensity that we brought and our accuracy.

"It’s exciting that we won so convincingly yet still have so much improvement in us, particularly having conceded 35 points.”

Southend remain fifth in the table, five points behind fourth placed Harpenden with just one league game left to play against Colchester.

But it is not just the league campaign on Whatling’s mind.

“We are really looking forward to a big couple of weeks with a cup final this week and then Colchester away,” said Whatling.

“Colchester is never an easy place to go and we know what they will bring in terms of physicality but we’ll embrace it, meet them head on and will go in to the game confident that we can get a result.”