Rugby round-up: Wins for Letchworth Garden City and Hitchin

They won 23-21 away to Tring to stay third in the table, after the whole of the top five were victorious.

But although they didn't allow the hosts to cross the whitewash, and scored three tries of their own, they allowed the metronomic boot of Tring scrum half, Ben Hogan, to land seven penalties and keep them in touch.

It could have been worse too for Letchworth as Hogan also hit the crossbar with a penalty before sending a late drop kick wide of the uprights.

As is probably expected of a Hertfordshire derby, both sides went at it hammer and tongs in the early going.

Hogan's crossbar strike came in this period but he atoned minutes later.

Josh Sharp levelled with a kick of his own but Hogan grabbed another two kicks to give Tring a 9-3 lead after 30 minutes.

However, the tide was beginning to turn in those final 10 minutes and after telling carries from Llewellyn Jones and Tom Lewis, good work between Josh Staddon and Harvey Howman allowed Rick Streets to go over for an unconverted score.

With the slope and breeze in the second half, Letchworth grabbed even more of the game in the first 10 minutes.

A ball switched to the blind side sent Sam Valpy over the line, touching down in the corner and although the kick was missed, they led for the first time, 13-9.

Hogan kept Tring in touch though with two penalties while Sharp managed one, meaning Letchworth's lead was just 16-15.

The second Hogan penalty arrived after a high tackle by Luke Mongston and he sat down for 10 minutes as well.

Two more Hogan penalties made it 21-16 to the home side, in desperate need of points at the wrong end of the table.

But with 12 minutes to go, Letchworth grabbed the lead for what would be the last time.

From a scrum in their own 22, Will Titherington broke and evaded a few tackles before being brought down.

The ball was switched blind and with room to move, Charlie Parkhouse cranked up the pace to beat the defenders and score.

Sharp landed the conversion and Letchworth saw out the game with 14 after Dan Peasnell saw yellow.

Hogan was off target with a penalty inside the last five minutes, the effort from the 10m line falling short, but he was closer for the attempted drop goal.

This time it had the height but not the accuracy and it drifted wide to the relief of Letchworth who will now turn their attentions to another Herts derby, this one at home against Hertford.

Simon Taylor makes a break for Hitchin at Hackney. Picture: MARTIN WIGGINS (Image: Martin Wiggins)

Hitchin are up to seventh in Counties One Herts Middlesex after a 34-22 victory away to Hackney.

The hosts started the stronger and opened the scoring after five minutes, the backs executing an overload to score on the right edge.

The Hedgehogs shook off the early setback to score their opener, a powerful effort from James Bolter and they  went ahead with brute force again proving effective, and Bolter again proving unstoppable.

Hitchin failed to field the kick off, and a penalty for a high tackle was kicked deep into the Hitchin 22.

From there, they employed their highly efficient rolling maul to full effect, and marched over the Hitchin line to score their second try.

The Hitchin pack, by contrast, were dominating the scrum, to such an extent that they elected to scrum a five-metre penalty.

That rumbled forward at such a pace that the ball couldn't be controlled, but scrum-half Will Evans reacted quickest to collect and dart over the line.

Dan Wiggins converted again to extend the lead to nine points.

In contrast to the cagey fixture between these two sides earlier in the season, this was a free flowing affair, and crucially Hitchin took the initiative.

Simon Taylor scored the bonus point try in the left corner although Hackney's third try followed after another failure to field the kick off.

But Hitchin pressed back immediately.

Wiggins found Taylor in the attacking 22 and Taylor put in fellow centre Jaden Elley-Murphy on a hard line to score under the posts.

It left Hitchin 31-17 ahead at half-time.

On a heavy pitch, fatigue played its part in a second half that was as subdued as the first half was entertaining.

Hitchin had lost their momentum, and when a penalty in front of the sticks was awarded, Wiggins kicked three points to extend the lead to three scores.

With the clock ticking down and Hitchin unable to recover their attacking momentum, Hackney applied territorial pressure in search of a late comeback.

The Hedgehogs dug in, and limited Hackney to just a bonus point fourth try, scored on 75 minutes.

The Hedgehogs go to league leaders Cheshunt on Saturday.

Stevenage Town meanwhile drew 20-20 with Chess Valley in Counties Three.