Fullerians continued their good start to the London 2 North West season with a 24-19 success over Hampstead, leapfrogging them in the table in doing so.

James Maher’s brace was the biggest contribution to the points, while Dan Evans added the conversions as well as a penalty of his own.

Fullers were the brighter of the two sides from the off, holding onto the ball well despite the wet conditions, and Maher opened the scoring when he burst into space down the right, and Evans converted to make it 7-0.

The hosts continued to dominated possession and territory in the first 20 minutes but couldn’t convert it into points, which allowed Hampstead back into the game with a five-point try.

The visitors took the lead swiftly after the restart as a converted try made it 12-7, but a penalty from Evans brought Fullers back into contention after some good work by the forward pack.

Fullers kept it simple from there on and it brought about the reward they sought. They caught and drove from a penalty and, after Hampstead brought down the rolling maul, Fullers were awarded a penalty try and led 17-12.

Ill-discipline continued to be an issue for Hampstead. With two players in the sin bin, Maher took advantage to score his second try of the afternoon and effectively kill off the game.

A lack of concentration at the end did spark the nerves again for Fullers when Hampstead converted a try late on, but it didn’t affect the overall outcome, with the hosts taking the points.

Next up for Fullers is a tough away fixture against second-placed Chiswick this weekend.

Meanwhile, Tabard were beaten for just the second time this season in London 3 North West as they went down 22-12 against Old Merchant Taylors’.

Four penalties from Jack Reilly were not enough, despite Tabard holding the lead until late on in the game.

They were unlucky to not capitalise on early territory after Taylors’ were penalised, but further pressure saw the hosts stray offside and Reilly made them pay with a well-taken penalty.

Ill-discipline cost the hosts again allowing Reilly to kick his second between the posts, but Tabard wandered offside themselves shortly before the break, allowing Taylors’ to halve the deficit and make it 6-3 at the interval.

Tabard started the second half brightly and a good drive upfield drew another penalty that Reilly, once again, kicked in with just five minutes of the half gone.

Taylors’ picked up a penalty of their own from the restart which led to an attacking lineout, and from there the hosts broke away and crossed for the first try of the afternoon, putting them in the lead at 10-9.

A fourth kick from Reilly soon restored Tabard’s lead, and it looked as though they were going to hold out for a narrow victory.

It wasn’t to be though, as a lack of concentration led to two late tries from the home side, one of which was converted, and they held on to win 22-12.

Next up for Tabard is a home match this Saturday against struggling Finchley.