Elthamians kept up the pressure on league leaders Ampthill with an emphatic five-try 31-3 victory against Cambridge at College Meadow on Saturday - writes Jon Edwards.

The victory was built on a dominant OEs scrum, led by man of the man Kieron Scutt on his return to the front row, which caused the Cambridge pack no end of problems all afternoon.

Aside from the scrum, there was little to separate the two sides in a cagey opening quarter. But two tries in the space of four minutes midway through the half saw Elthamians take a stranglehold on proceedings.

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The first came predictably from a scrum inside the Cambridge 22. The visiting pack were shunted back over their own goal-line allowing OE's No.8 Ben King, who enjoyed an outstanding afternoon’s work, to touch down.

With the visitors still regrouping, Elthamians struck again shortly afterwards. A darting run from Rhys Morgan around the back of a lineout on the edge of the Cambridge 22, caught the defence by surprise, allowing the scrum-half to off-load to Joe Carlisle for a short run to the line.

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Morgan went from provider to try-scorer on 33 minutes, when he jinked his way down the blindside of a ruck to give the home side a 21-3 lead, Cambridge’s only points in the opening period coming from a Ben Penfold penalty.

The visitors started the second half strongly, pinning Elthamians in their own 22, but they could find no way through miserly defence despite the promptings of half back duo Finlay Creighton and Penfold.

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Elthamians had to wait until the 69th minute to secure the all-important bonus point for a fourth try when replacement hooker Jay Rudland-Thomas dived over from a driven lineout.

Full-back Ben Howard capped a clinical OEs performance three minutes from time when he finished off slick interplay between backs and forwards to touch down in the corner.