Verulamians left it late to snatch a 19-18 win at Hillingdon Abbots in Herts Middlesex One on Saturday.

Sam Crowne managed to thrust his way over the try line to give the visitors a decent chance of victory heading into the second half. 

As soon as the sides turned round possession changed hands and Vees found themselves up against an equally aggressive back row and adventurous scrum half whose penetrative powers soon had them on the backfoot. A penalty and two tries stretched the score into what appeared an unassailable lead of 18-5 with only 15 minutes to go.

The forwards combined well to smuggle the ball to a position where Joe Baker emerged from a rolling maul to touch down under the posts only to see the kicker miss a simple conversion.

With the score still in Hillingdon’s favour at 18-12 Vees cleanly fielded the kick-off and Alex Ricci, who had hardly handled the ball in the match, set off on a scything run down the left wing. He helped set up Josh Lawrence to touch down under the posts and the conversion snatched victory for the Vees.

The side travel to Norfolk next week to take on the Crusaders in the next round of the RFU Vase competition.