Hemel Hempstead Camelot secured their playoff position by beating Old rivals Harpenden at Chaulden Lane on Saturday. Not only were their bragging rights at stake but also a trophy in memory of Ian Weed a former Hemel player and Harpenden coach.

Although Hemel ran out 36-17 winners the teams were very evenly matched for sixty minutes of the game which was played at a high tempo with both teams looking to run the ball.

But it was Hemel who were to get on the score board first with some lovely interplay amongst the whole side which saw Buckingham cross in the corner.

Hemel had Harpenden rocking shortly after as Ryan Doyle crossed the white wash under the post’s and O’Brien added the extras extending Hemel’s lead 12-0.

Harpenden weren’t out of this match by any stretch of the imagination and it took some scramble defence from Hemel players to keep them out and finish the half 12-0.

Shortly after the interval Hemel extended their lead with a lovely individual try from Buckingham who collected the ball in his own half and set off on a individual run that saw him beat 3 covering defenders and side step the full back to score under the posts Hemel’s lead was extended further with the conversion and the score now stood at 19-0.

Harpenden to their credit still had plenty of fight in them and came up with a cracking try of their own which saw their right wing beat three Hemel defenders and score and with the conversion added the gap closed to 12points. Harpenden were not finished however and a penalty was awarded to the shortly after which they duly converted make the scores 19-10.
Hemel seemed to be a little rattled at this point and were further rocked as Harpenden scored another try and conversion to close the gap to 19-17.

This last score seemed to awake the Hemel boys from their slumber to see them score three more unanswered through Tom Aitken, Ross Willoughby and a third for Buckingham, one of which was converted by O’Brien.

Bringing the final tally to 36-17 Hemel now need two league points from their last game away at Chiswick to secure home advantage in the playoff final.

Team: Cox, Massa, Kears, Morgan, Hobbs, Adams, Temperly, Jahn, Aitken, O’Brien, Buckingham, Doyle, Willoughby, Flannery, Merrett, Long, Herlihy, Jakeman.