Saints made the short trip to Redbourn Lane on Saturday afternoon hoping to get back to winning ways against Harpenden in "The Derby". In a close contest Saints came up short as the home side triumphed leaving the Blue and Gold still searching for their first win since the beginning of October. The hosts controlled approach, in particular their territorial kicking game, kept Saints on the back foot throughout and making it difficult to put together patterns of play.

The hosts started the game on the front foot and Saints found themselves defending for long periods within their own 22. Eventually after a long period of sustained pressure Harpenden broke through with the first score of the game, the 10 adding the extras. They added a second converted try ten minutes later to lead 14-0. The opening passages of the first half were disappointing for Saints, they failed to put together meaningful attacks and when they did get over the half way line, a combination of poor handling in the wet conditions.

Saints eventually composed themselves and started to attack down the centre of the pitch. The direct forward carrying, (so often a feature of Saints play at their best this season) was pulling in defenders and creating space as Saints worked their way up the pitch and into the Harpenden 22. The ball worked its way to Sion McGregor and the scrum half spotted a gap to dot down under the posts. Andrew Gumbie added the easy extras to reduce the gap to one converted score. Saints remained in the ascendancy for the remainder of the half and when the hosts conceded a penalty close to the posts, Andrew Gumbie added to three to reduce the gap to four points at half time.

HT
Harpenden 14 St Albans 10

The second half was pretty even and although Harpenden had the bulk of the possession, they were only able to add two penalties to the scoreboard. The hosts had a number of chances in the attacking third only to be stopped by handling errors in the conditions and scramble defense When Saints did get the ball, they were unable to put any meaningful phases together and were restricted to attacking from their own half. Saints had the last attack of the game and came close only for a knock on close to the line to prevent them from adding to their tally.

FT
Harpenden 20 St Albans 10

Saints skipper Fraser Morris reflected on a frustrating afternoon "It was disappointing to have limited availability this week with just the starting 15 we were always going to be up against it. Credit to Harpenden, they deserved the win, their control at half back was very good and they also helped us out with players when we had guys go off injured. I can't fault the guys who played, few things to work on at training this week and we go again next weekend at home to OAs. It was great to see Tony (Stevenson) back in the Blue and Gold and Ollie Wallace-Greaves return from injury he put in a fantastic performance. Duncan (Sharp) was a deserved man of the match after a superb display in attack and defense".