Staines landed the Middlesex Cup thanks to a 37-11 win over Ruislip in a match that also counted as points in London & South East Division One north.

It ended Ruislip’s unbeaten start to the season and brought the cup back to The Reeves for the first time since 1999.

Staines coaches Martin and Greg Knights urged their team to put their opponents under pressure and capitalise on their mistakes, and this game plan worked a treat with two early tries.

After five minutes, centre Joe Goatley marked his first start in the first team by bursting through several players to score. Fly-half Richard Mahony’s conversion made it 7-0.

Then, a sniping run by scrum-half James Robinson saw the ball slipped to fly-half Mahony, who angled his run to touch down in the corner. Mahony’s excellent kick from the sideline converted his own try to make it 14-0, and he soon added a further penalty.

For the next 15 minutes, Staines produced some uninspired rugby and two Ruislip penalties were quickly followed by a try.

At 17-11, Staines regrouped and reduced the error count and a brief foray in the Ruislip 22 metre area finished with Mahony adding a neat drop goal.

After the restart, Staines reverted to the controlled pressure rugby that served them well early on and, with Ruislip’s scrum-half in the sin bin, Mahony kicked another penalty.

Then Staines scrum-half Robinson combined well with full-back Regan, who launched a high kick deep into the Ruislip half.

The visitors were caught in possession and the ball was recycled for open side flanker Adam Mursal, the oustanding player on the afternoon, to score under the posts, Mahony adding the extras to make it 30-11.

Ruislip kicked a penalty and then took the game to Staines’ defence, but the home side responded with a counter-attack. Chris Wells made a telling break and put in wing Chris Bishay to go over, with Mahony’s conversion completing the scoring and a personal haul of 22 points.

Staines visit league newcomers Harpenden this Saturday.