Barnet Elizabethans left Roehampton on Saturday night after their narrow defeat by the Bank of England with a losing bonus point although the players felt they had been denied the win which would have brought a bonus point in itself.

As they had done all match, the BE pack shoved the Bank eight backwards and it looked as if they had secured the vital winning try in the final minute, or at worst, a scrum restart. Instead, they were penalised and the Bank gratefully cleared their line to win the game. This was harsh against the BE scrum who had outmuscled the home pack all game. It was a harsh lesson, too, for the BE team who had made mistakes for three of the home side's tries.

The first came with a sloppy pass being intercepted on the halway line, the try being converted, and a second try from poor tackling.

When the BE pack were under-way, they rumbed to let LUKE McCARTHY score a try which was well converted by JONATHAN HART. BE were 7-12 down at the break but another superb pack drive resulted in the referee awarding them a penalty try even though there was 15 metres to the line. JONATHAN HART made the easy conversion (14-12 to BE) and then another forward's drive resulted in MATT GREENWOOD getting the try (19-12) but further missed tackles gave the Bank an easy try and conversion to level the scores.

The home side added a penalty kick to give them a narrow lead. The controversial ending meant the scoreline was not altered.

BE have no fixture next Saturday but on 4th December they are at home to Finchley (2.30pm).

Peter Yates