On a half-frozen pitch in Regents Park, Northolt met rivals Belsize Bulls for the third time this season. With two wins to the Bulls, Northolt really wanted a win this time round and through a gritty determined effort, they brought the season tally to 1-2.

Northolt came out of the gates faster than recently, despite the long journey.

However, Belsize were the first to score when, against the run of play, they managed to get their winger over.

Northolt came back, though, driving a lineout after a penalty before releasing Ade McConney. The inside centre beat several defenders making the 15 m to the line and Jay ‘The Leg’ Pretorius slotted the conversion.

The back and forth continued when Belsize scored off an interception and took the lead again.

Northolt made good ground from Jay’s kicking and some outstanding runs from No 8 Dan Topps, but Belsize’s defence stood strong, keeping the scores locked at 12-7 when the halftime whistle blew.

Following the break, heads risked dropping when Ali Slaughter scuffed the kickoff and Belsize elected to scrum. With Gideon Felton failing the physio’s assessment after an heroic first half’s hooking and Andis Mema regaining his legs on the bench, Northolt were down two key scrummagers. Belsize must have been shocked, then, when the Northolt scrum, powered now with Joe Hunt and Ryan O’Malley, rolled over 5 m to win the ball back. Jay, breaking from the base, released Ali who found a gap in the defence and made 10 m before releasing Rob Woods.

The aggressive start set the tone for the majority of a half of rugby camped in the Bulls’ half.

Piling on the pressure, Northolt won penalty after scrum to keep possession, and, when Belsize did kick for clearance, Philip O’Connor made some dazzling runs from full back.

The opposition full back was in good form, though. If it wasn’t for great covering from Ed Shapland and Dylan Flanagan, he would have put his own scores in.

As it was, Northolt were the only team to score in the second half.

The first came from a lineout drive that finished on the 5 m line. Under pressure, Ali managed to throw a quick pass to centre, Scott Lewis, who drew his man before releasing Tom Bird on the wing. Tom thundered through two covering tacklers to claim his first competition try for the club. Jay slotted the conversion and took Northolt two points ahead.

With 8 minutes to go, everything was to play for.

From the kick off, captain Dylan claimed well and gave Ali a strong base from which to kick. Philip and replacement wing, John King chased brilliantly, claiming the catch and drawing a penalty at the resulting ruck.

The kick led to a lineout on the Regents Park ice rink that had hardened further during the game. However, a safe catch led to another drive to the line, this time from Kirk Thompson who had come into the centres for the second half. The pressure that followed caused Belsize to kick their clearance dead setting up a 5 m scrum with not long left.

Northolt held the scrum well and the ball was again in Scott’s hands when the whistle blasted.

Turning around to see what the call was for, the players saw a shaggy dog departing the pitch.

Many grumbles were had and a suggestion of enlisting the dog for Belsize followed when the referee deemed enough play to have passed for the scrum to be reset close to the 22 m rather than taking the 5 m scrum again.

Not disheartened by the (oh so literal) setback, Northolt raged again, drawing closer and closer to the line. Sensing a shift in the Belsize focus, Andis shifted to the blind side, Jay delivered the ball perfectly and Andis put a great pass into Scott’s hands who effortlessly finished the play.

With 19-12 on the board and seconds to go, what could go wrong?

It seemed that Northolt were on a mission to self sabotage at the last when, with 90 seconds to go and in spite of ever-freezing fingers, the forwards decided to play 7’s rugby. As marvellous a display as this was, it resulted in a knock on and a scrum to Belsize to mark the last play.

Belsize won the scrum and shifted the ball wide. For a brief moment of despair, they looked to have broken the line before a horde of forwards covered across, killing the attack and forcing a penalty from Belsize as they tried to recover.

Rather than suffer the pedantry of ending the game on a penalty, the ref elected to blow the whistle there and then, sealing a hard fought victory for Northolt.

As well as being the first win this season again Belsize Bulls, the victory took Northolt back to the top of the league table.

With two weeks of friendlies coming up, Northolt will have to work to keep the momentum going into the final trio of league matches. However, the spirit of Saturday’s performance left things looking good for the Holt.