Verulamians' promotion hopes suffered a blow on Saturday as they were beaten 24-17 by London Welsh Amateurs in Herts/Middlesex One, slipping one place in the table.

By half time Vees, trailing 16-14, were lucky not to be further adrift.

On the whistle the Vees' dominant scrum scored a pushover try and the conversion saved what could have been an greater deficit.

Vees' scrum in the second half showed the way forward and produced a penalty infringement that enabled Gareth Waters to give the home side a 17-16 lead.

The strength of Vees' line-out play should have been realised and capitalised upon by a untried set of Vee backs.

Fifteen minutes from time London Welsh brought on speedy winger. Their half backs and hard-running centre suddenly unleashed a five minute spell in which they scored  an unconverted try and a kicked penalty that gave London Welsh a hard fought for victory.