Northolt 6 Pinner & Grammarians 34

Pinner wrapped up promotion to the Herts/Middlesex Division Three in style with a six try demolition of Northolt.

First half tries from Aaron Nicholas (2) and Warren Woad (2) gave Pinner a commanding 20-6 half time lead before two converted scores from centre Russell Joynt sealed victory.

Club president David Hiles said: "Securing promotion is quite an achievement after years in the doldrums. Much of this is down to Reza Sibilant for his leadership and for engendering a fantastic team spirit.

"We just missed out on promotion last season and it shows how far we've come as we were bottom of the set up for several years. We will no longer be in the lowest league level in the country and the higher the league we are in, the higher our profile becomes.

"Being in the next league up will help attract new players, especially with the results and style of play produced this year."

Pinner always looked like securing their 10th win from 12 games this season despite Northolt taking an early lead through a successful penalty.

From the restart Pinner secured line-out ball at the Northolt 22 metre line and flanker Nicholas was on hand to barge over the whitewash. Five minutes later a repeat move saw captain and man of the match Sibilant gain ground before offloading for Nicholas to score his second try.

Woad was then held up on the line as Pinner went for the jugular, but the flanker did not have to wait long for his try after lock Mike Turner put him in from a powerful scrum.

Northolt reduced the arrears with a second penalty but the visitors strengthened their grip on proceedings after Woad took Sibilant's pass in his stride to cross under the posts.

It took 17 minutes of the second half for Pinner to increase their lead further. From a tapped penalty on the Northolt five metre line the ball reached Joynt who powered through from 20 metres, taking three Northolt players with him to score under the posts.

Fly-half Adrian Boue converted before setting up Joynt for his second five minutes later. This time full-back Mark Razzel added the extras.

Pinner will now battle it out for the title with league leaders Hatfield, who they face on their travels in a mouth-watering final game of the season on April 4. First, they host third placed Sudbury & London Springbocs at Hatch End on March 21.

Meanwhile, the club's Minis were split into an U7 and U8 team at the Middlesex Tag Rugby Festival in Ruislip last weekend.

The older squads had training sessions at Shaftesbury Playing Fields.

Player of the Day recipients were Sam Fraser (U9s), Piers Marx-Carr (U11s) and Tyler Hone (U12s). [25a0] Harrow RFC U11s were dealt two harsh lessons by Ampthill on Sunday.

Scrum half Max Whittaker put Harrow ahead with a fine try, converted by Andrew Nurse, but Ampthill levelled the scores before cutting loose with three second half tries to win 28-7.

In the second game Ampthill carried on their assault and eased into a 21-0 half time lead. Harry Colgate toiled without any reward for Harrow as they went down 35-0.

Harrow's U8s were defeated but not downheartened after competing in the MiddlesexTag Rugby Festival. Harrow's red team lost out to Wasps in the Bowl event before suffering a defeat to a strong Ealing side. They won praise for their high level of discipline.

Harrow's yellow team, however, qualified for the pool section but narrowly lost to Staines in the Plate play-off final.