Fullerians produced arguably their grittiest display of the season on Saturday to defeat Hammersmith & Fulham 22-19.

The home side dominated in the early exchanges and were rewarded with an excellent try from Matt Brooke.

Hammersmith came back into the game and produced a good try of their own, albeit aided by some poor tackling from the Fullers defence.

However, after a good scrum, a lovely pass by Fullers scrum-half Tom Sherriff found Matt Deane, who ran in unopposed to touch down.

The visitors pegged Fullers back again though, after some poor kicking was punished with another well-worked try.

The second half started well for Fullers as Deane showed good pace to get a second try in the corner.

Hammersmith again responded almost instantaneously, this time with a try from a clever lineout to put them ahead. But with minutes to spare, Matt Bushell touched down for the winning score. Brooke added the extras for a deserved victory.

Skipper Sam Tinsley said: “We have been lacklustre in recent weeks and wanted to win it that much more today.

“That fire in the belly and team spirit was all over the park and we thoroughly deserved the victory.”

n Watford secured a 10-3 victory away to London French on Saturday, in a tight affair between two well-matched sides.

The visitors started sharply and straight from the kick-off, turned over quick ball and took advantage of an overlap in the backs. Winger Stuart Menzies was stopped metres from the line but he had the presence of mind to move the ball away from the contact area and captain Paul Dunlop scored the try on his return from injury, with Tom McGee converting.

Watford were unlucky not to score further tries, through their impressive centre combination of Andy Lee and Tom Kiely but the support was not quite there for the final pass.

In the second half, London French’s pace in the backs started to stretch the away team to their limits but several knock-ons and missed passes denied the hosts a try.

They did manage to get the ball over the line twice, but both tries were disallowed, one for a foot in touch and the other for a double movement.

Both teams scored a penalty in the closing stages but Dunlop’s solitary try was enough for Watford.

n It was unlucky 13 for Tabard as their 13th league fixture resulted in a 31-11 loss away to Chiswick, their first defeat of the season.

The visitors didn’t see much possession in the opening stages and they paid for two infringements, with penalties kicked by Simon Hallett.

Tabard came back into the game and began to mount some attacks of their own and got their reward with a try from second row Sam Barrow. They continued to pressurise Chiswick, but to no avail. The second half started badly for Tabard as their opponents managed to penetrate their defence when centre Jonathon Gibson went over and Hallett converted to stretch the lead to 13-5.

Tabard did get two penalty goals kicked by Reilly for their efforts but Hallett replied in the same manner for Chiswick. With time almost up, Tabard were desperately trying to breach the Chiswick defence and flanker Adrian Lewis intercepted and ran the length of the pitch to score, with Hallett converting. Then from the restart, Chiswick broke down the touchline, resulting in another try. Richie Darroch scored this time to confirm the end of Tabard’s unbeaten record.