Grove coach Nathan Brooks was left bemoaning his side’s poor start after their 48-13 defeat at Amersham & Chiltern.

The loss left Brooks’s men six points off the promotion positions in Southern Counties North with a game in hand.

He said: “It was our worst performance of the year, particularly from the backs, for the first 50 minutes, and then we dominated the last half-hour.

“The forwards competed very well, with captain Ben Nicholl leading from the front having a great game.

“James Kerr at second row had a good game as well. Nick Hayes came off the bench and was excellent in counter attacking from deep.”

Meanwhile, Banbury Bulls player-coach Grant Holmes was even more frustrated after his team struggled to defeat lowly Lutterworth in Midlands 2 East South.

Holmes said: “We let ourselves down very badly with the basic elements of the game, poor passing and extremely poor handling cost us a lot of chances.

“We were a long way from our best, but we did create numerous opportunities only for the basics to let us down.

“That was very frustrating and must be vastly improved upon.

“We must increase our percentage of turning chances into tries if we are to maintain our push for league honours.”

  • Alchester visit Marlborough on Saturday in their rescheduled Southern Counties Senior Vase semi-final tie.

Although still a long shot, the club are four wins away from a Twickenham final in their first season of competitive rugby.

Marlborough, however, have won all 13 of their matches in Dorset & Wilts Division 1 North, so will start the match as clear favourites.

  • Oxford University’s Sean Morris started at right wing as England Students were pipped 21-18 by Portugal in a thrilling clash in Lisbon.
  • London Wasps’ former Chinnor hooker Arthur Ellis is on England’s bench for their RBS Under 20 Six Nations opener against Wales at Gloucester tomorrow night.