Brunel University halt Marlow's momentum as leaders prove too strong at Riverwoods

Marlow failed in their bid to land a fifth straight league win as the hosts ran headfirst into in-form league leaders Brunel University at Riverwoods.

Having swept past London Irish Wild Geese, Harpenden, Windsor and Aylesbury, Marlow were closing in on a place in the top half of the Regional 2 Thames Division, however, Brunel weren’t about to make life easy for them.

In truth the home side were overpowered, particularly in the first half as they collapsed to a 28-8 deficit.

That always looked too much to make up in the second half, but the hosts did their best and managed to claw back some points - and respectability - with the game finishing 22-45 to the university students.

It was Brunel’s 10th win from 11 this season and they’re starting to look in ominous form for the league title, having opened a six-point gap over second placed Beaconsfield - themselves impressive 43-12 winners at third placed Belsize Park this weekend.

Marlow sit seventh, four points behind Aylesbury, one of the teams they’d hope to reel in before the season concludes if recent form is anything to go by.

They face another tough test at Riverwoods this Saturday, however, with Beaconsfield the visitors looking to back up that big win over Belsize Park.

Windsor were also in relatively good form heading into their match at Old Priorians on Saturday. however, they failed to maintain their own upward momentum, losing 38-19.

Andy Symons side have lifted themselves out of the relegation places in recent weeks with determined victories over Grasshoppers (27-21) and Oxford Harlequins (14-18), but this was a step too far against a Priorians side who moved fifth in the standings off the back of the result.

Windsor remain outside of the bottom two by three points from London Irish Wild Geese, but they’re now six points behind Grasshoppers in ninth. Finishing outside of the bottom two automatic relegation places will be their first aim this season and they remain on track to achieve that.

They host sixth placed Aylesbury at Home Park on Saturday.