British Airways 0 Pinner & Grammarians 58
Pinner sent out a warning to Herts/Middlesex Four leaders Hatfield with a 10 try demolition of British Airways on Saturday.
Victory was all the more sweeter after BA had threatened to derail Pinner's promotion challenge with victory in the reverse fixture at Shaftsbury Playing Fields last December.
Pinner flew out of the traps on the first whistle. Centre Russell Joint was the first to cross the try line while skipper Reza Sibilant went in under the posts soon after. Fly-half Adrian Boue converted both.
Number eight Bernie Richter then grounded try number three after peeling away from the base of a scrum, and he was at it again minutes later following a good drive from Warren Woad. Boue added the extras for 26-0.
A depleted Airways side then lost two
players to injury while their sole replacement failed to arrive until the interval. Pinner took advantage and scored two uncoverted tries to take a 36-0 lead into the break, wing Mike Stepney and Woad the benefactors.
After a sluggish start to the second half Pinner extended their lead further when the impressive Joint capped a wonderful 40 metre run with a clinical finish for his second try of the afternoon.
This finally spurred the hosts into action, with the forwards dominating the set scrums and much of the loose play.
However, BA's frustrations grew and Pinner replacement Andy Wright ran in the eighth try with Boue nailing his kick.
Neat exchanges between the fly-half and Richter saw the latter complete his treble before further injuries resulted in uncontested scrums.
Despite their healthy lead Pinner's indiscipline threatened to take the gloss off their performance, yet the referee allowed persistent offending to go unpunished. Second row Mike Turner completed the scoring seven minutes from the end as the hosts tired.
