Tabard suffered a 31-26 defeat at Staines in their London Two North West game on Saturday.

The visitors went away with two losing bonus points but were left frustrated after letting a 20-7 lead slip.

The result narrows the gap at the bottom of the table and adds increased significance to this weekend’s fixture with bottom-placed Old Merchant Taylors.

Tabard had full control of the majority of the game despite gifting seven early points in the first five minutes.

The early score galvanised the visitors who responded with four unanswered tries within the first 30 minutes of play.

Rhys Lewis was first on the scoreboard for Tabard followed by a try for Alex Walton.

Mark Salteras showed a great turn of pace to brush aside four Staines tacklers and was rewarded for his efforts with a try off the base of a driving maul.

Toby Davies was next to cross the line after taking a quick tap from five metres. Staines took full advantage of Tabard’s lack of execution and went on to score two tries before half time to leave them trailing 20-17.

Tabard were able to withstand early pressure, took play in to the Staines half and got the first points of the second half with a Jack Reilly penalty.

The visitors were rewarded with another Reilly penalty to stretch the score to 26-17 with 20 minutes left.

Staines responded almost immediately when they ran the ball from their own 22. The attack was halted but the ball recycled and the try was scored under the posts.

This brought the hosts within two points and Staines struck the crucial score when their full-back crossed the line.

By this stage, Tabard had ran out of time to get back into the contest as they suffered an agonising league defeat.