Rugby union: Wins for Letchworth, Hitchin and Stevenage Town

The 33-19 success means they are now one point ahead of Oundle, both having won four from four but with Letchworth claiming one more bonus point.

The hosts meanwhile are yet to taste victory this season but were close at times, pulling themselves to within one score with 20 minutes to go.

A third Charlie Parkhouse try in the final quarter saw Letchworth ease away, denying them a bonus point of their own.

The start to the game though had all been about the visitors, Josh Walker getting the final touch as Letchworth drove over.

But the A&C response was good after 20 minutes of pressing they drew level, Noah Jarvis finding space out wide to scoot round and under the posts.

That stung Letchworth into action and only poor handling and fine defence keep them out, that was until Parkhouse opened his account for the afternoon.

Josh Sharp converted that one and then did so again after they won a scrum and Tom Lewis ran in almost unopposed.

A loose clearance brought the bonus-point try, Allen picking up and feeding Sharp who in turn found new signing Henry Robinson.

Three would-be tacklers slipped off the Letchworth man and after a scattered defence only temporarily stopped their advance, Parkhouse found a gap to get his second and make it 26-7.

A penalty try and a yellow card for Sharp allowed Amersham to cut the gap to 12 and an unconverted try following a catch and drive made it 26-19.

The hoped for grand finale never came for A&C though and instead good work from Rick Streets and Luke Mongston among others, Parkhouse scampered in for his hat-trick and to seal the win.

Next is a home game with Sudbury on Saturday, October 12.

Hitchin (black shirts) were dominant in the scrum against Ruislip. Picture: MARTIN WIGGINS (Image: Martin Wiggins) Hitchin got back to winning ways, keeping them in touch with the Counties One Herts Middlesex pacesetters.

They beat Ruislip 31-24 and are now fourth with three wins from four.

The two clubs were well matched on recent encounters, each with two wins in the last two seasons, but it was Hitchin who got the first points, James Bolter going over from short range and Adam Miles adding the kick.

Ruislip didn't take long to respond. A penalty and a couple of smart offloads exploited an overload on the right edge.

Hitchin's dominant scrum brought about the second try. A penalty was kicked to touch, and an infringement around the ruck resulted in a 5 metre penalty, which was scrummaged over the line for captain Frazer McGown to touch down.

Miles converted for a 14-5 lead.

At that point things were going swimmingly but suddenly errors gave Ruislip a way back into the game, exacerbated by a yellow card for a Hitchin high tackle.

A well constructed maul drove over the for the visitors and they had a bonus point and a 24-14 lead by the interval.

Back to 15 men, Hitchin began the fightback in the second half when a rolling maul from a line-out rumbled over, Ewan Rawlings getting the scoring touch, and the forwards brought things level again with McGown profiting from a scrum won against the head.

Ruislip lost a player for 10 minutes for a late tackle but Hitchin could not exploit the numerical advantage.

They did, however, get their noses in front when both sides were at full strength, Ruiri Shanahan unlocking the defence with a high ball that Jack Maydom go to first.

Shanahan added the extras and it meant a tense finale in which rolling mauls from Ruislip were twice repelled, the second of which brought about the final whistle.

The 2XV narrowly missed out in a high scoring cup match at Letchworth, Hitchin contributing six tries to a 44-32 defeat.

Winger Greg Ranson got three while Paul Ledwith, Ash Wood and Adam Howard also scored a try each.

Stevenage Town meanwhile got win number one of the Counties Three Herts Middlesex season by beating Hendon 41-24 away.

That moves them up to sixth.