COMEBACK kid Luke Matthews grabbed a bonus point try on his return to the Uxbridge side on Saturday following two months on the sidelines.
The centre ran in the crucial fourth try in a 24-8 win over London French which keeps Uxbridge in the Herts/Middx Two promotion shake-up, moving them to within a point of Old Merchant Taylor's (OMTs).
Jamie Dack opened the scoring with a dash down the left wing, with Micky Weymouth landing a superb touhcline conversion, but after player-boss and number eight Gareth Nicholls ran in a second try, Weymouth was this time beaten by the angle from a similar position.
Uxbridge nevertheless enjoyed a 12-0 half-time lead, but London French started the second half the better side and poor discipline let them in for a penalty and unconvrted try which pulled the visitors back to 12-8.
However, the hosts came storming back straight from the kick off and Weymouth scored Uxbridge's third try before converting his own effort in front of the posts.
All of which set the scene for Matthews to secure a bonus point, although Weymouth's kick was off-target from the touchline again.
Nicholls said: “We made it difficult for ourselves, but we got a bonus point while OMTs didn't, and although it was not a great performance with unforced errors, that was the important thing. As I said before Christmas, we need to be aiming for a bonus point in each game.”
In the same division, Ickenham were not able to do Uxbridge a favour as they went down to a heavy 87-0 defeat at leaders Harrow, and neither could Old Abbotstonians, as they lost 15-0 as second-placed OMTs.
Meanwhile, in London One North, Ruislip were left to rue a catalogue of errors as they went down 14-5 at Old Colfeians.
Two penalties put the hosts 6-0 up, and although Ruislip pulled back to within a point with an unconverted try, Colfeians won it with a try of their own and a further penalty.
Club senior rugby manager Paul Flynn said: “We have a lot of injuries, and a few more pulled out on Saturday morning, but the lads know they still should have won.
“We gave it to them. Both teams made errors, we just kept knocking it on. All we had to do at times was catch the ball and get to the line, but we couldn't catch a cold.”
