Harpenden slumped to a 33-5 home defeat to Old Priorians in London North West Two on Saturday.

Old Priorians were soon into their stride, putting a marker down through fly-half Jo Codrington. He scored his try within five minutes of the start.

Harpenden, playing with the wind behind them, quickly replied with a try of their own when left wing Adam Stirling went over.

A second try from Codrinton and a third scored by centre Jack Dever, brought the score to 19-5 in Old Priorians’ favour at the end of a disappointing half. Dever’s score came from a chip from the Priorians fly-half that caught Harpenden off their guard.

For 20 minutes the second half was a reverse of the first. The Harpenden pack responded to the challenge well, despite having the disadvantage of playing into the teeth of a strong wind that had increased in power since the start.

The pack played so well that George Maestrovic, the Priorians’ No 7, vented his frustration by tripping the nearest player in his sights in full view of the referee which resulted in a yellow card.

There were now moments when it looked likely Harpenden could use John Collin’s speed around the base of the scrum to some advantage and get that all-important second try but the visitors were having none of it.

A mistake from a badly executed grubber kick led to the opposition capitalising on the error and scoring a try by back David Wilkie.

In the end, with the wind behind them and 40 to 50m kicks into touch the norm, the away team wore down Harpenden with one more try from Dever rounding off the away win.