LONDON TWO NORTH Bury St Edmunds 45 Ruislip 23

Ruislips recent run of good form came to an abrupt halt on Saturday at the end of a long road trip to third-placed Bury St Edmunds.

Bury are unbeaten at home all season and they started impressively, cheered on by a large and vocal crowd which soon had two well worked tries to celebrate.

The Maroons found themselves 13-0 down within the first quarter of an hour alone before they began to hit back.

Dennis Rowe stopped the rot with a try from a good line-out move, converted by Phil Grehan, yet Bury continued to produce the better rugby with their midfield excelling in particular.

They stretched their lead with a try from their powerful inside centre and although a couple of Grehan penalties kept Ruislip just about in touch at 23-13 down at half-time, they really needed to score next.

They didn't. The hosts began the second half as they had the first, completely dominant and they quickly landed a couple of penalties to stretch their lead to 16 points.

Mark Whyman grabbed Ruislip's second try with a chip and chase but the game was well and truly up when Bury claimed a good team try to increase the lead to 36-18 with only 10 minutes to go.

Three more penalties for the home side and a consolation Chris West try completed the scoring and left Ruislip down in fifth place, having been overtaken by Civil Service.

Attack coach Dave Samuel said: "I was frustrated by the fact that although we have trained well for the last few weeks, despite the weather, we didn't bring any of that commitment to the game.

"We were flat and didn't put them under pressure which allowed their midfield to run the game.

"For whatever reason we aren't transferring our home form to the away games.

"Our decision making on occasion was also pretty poor.

"Only a couple of players really stood up today - I thought Stu Hofstetter in the forwards and James Hedger did pretty well on his league debut."

Ruislip host in-form Woodford on Saturday at 2.30pm. * Ian Rowe and Rhys Verley notched two tries apiece to help Ruislip U14s win a tough clash 29-17 away to Woodford.

The young Maroons started slowly following their long Tube trip to the other end of the Central line, conceding the opening try but a few minutes later Rowe showed his pace, running the length of the field after a quick tap and go, to level at 5-5.

He added a second score but soon after half-time Woodford hit back to lead 12-10 and then 17-10 to leave Ruislip facing the prospect of a first defeat of the season, which loomed larger when scrum half Tom Nolan was carried off with a knee injury.

However, the visitors rallied and 6ft 4ins second rower Verley came to life, embarking on a storming run from his own half to score a try which Rowe converted to level the scores.

The big Woodford pack then started to tire and with the slope in Ruislip's favour they took advantage with Joe Thwaite and Charlie Noon sending Verley under the sticks, with Noon's conversion taking Ruislip 24-17 ahead.

The visitors were now firing on all cylinders and man of the match, full back Alex D'Cruz, picked up a loose ball and ran rings around the static Woodford pack to wrap up the win.