Old Walcountians ended a run of three consecutive defeats when they recovered from a 12-point deficit to hold the improbably-named Cheeky Ladies London to a 24-24 draw at Old Deer Park last Saturday.

The Counts dominated the opening 15 minutes as they ruthlessly dominated the forward exchanges.

The Walcountians pack repeatedly drove the Cheeky Ladies backwards and steamrollering runs by Steve Cowlin, Simon Fowler and Jared Russell forced the home side back into their own 22.

Despite the repeated pressure, the Old Boys were unable to open their account until the 14th minute, although four minutes earlier, prop Dan Bell was held up on the line.

The breakthrough came from a tap penalty, which scrum-half Callum Stone flung out to skipper Ollie Beales, who found fellow centre Chris Drinkwater outside him to finish off the move and touch down.

The Cheeky Ladies, despite their lowly League position, made a spectacular response and stunned the Counts by running in two tries in the same number of minutes.

The first came after 17 minutes when slick handling and excellent support play by the Cheeky Ladies, aided by some poor defensive tackling by Walcountians, saw their outside-centre touch down for a converted try.

Then, two minutes later, a break from their No 8 found a huge gap in the Old Boys’ defence and the move was finished by the fly-half. The Cheeky Ladies’ fly-half converted both tries to open a nine-point lead.

Walcountians cut the Cheeky Ladies’ lead to two points in the 29th minute when flanker Rory McGregor fielded a weak clearance kick and cut a massive swathe through the Cheeky Ladies’ defence to put winger Simon Manning in for his fourth try of the season, Fred South converting.

The Counts looked out for the count after just six minutes of the second half, when a converted try and a penalty put the Cheeky Ladies 12 points clear. The try came within two minutes of the restart when a switch of play from a ruck left the Old Boys’ defence at sixes and sevens, and the Cheeky Ladies piled on the pain with a penalty four minutes later.

However, Walcountians showed resolve, and regained control of the game. Stirring performances in the loose from flankers Rory McGregor and Jack South led the way and, behind the scrum, full-back Rudy Sanwell and centre Chris Drinkwater stretched the Cheeky Ladies’ defence.

Indeed, it was Drinkwater who proved instrumental in turning the game back in Walcountians’ favour.

Nine minutes into the second half, he split open the Cheeky Ladies’ defence with an outrageous dummy which created a massive gap for energetic hooker Rob Grehan to exploit and run in the Counts’ third try of the day.

And it was Drinkwater who claimed the levelling score with his second try of the day in the 28th minute after he scythed through the Cheeky Ladies’ defence after the Counts won a scrum on the five metre line.

The Cheeky Ladies had two late attempts to win the game through a penalty and a drop goal attempt, but neither were successful and the Counts held on to claim a share of the points.

Next Saturday, Walcountians face a formidable challenge in the shape of second-placed London Exiles, who come down to Clock House looking for further points to boost their promotion challenge. Kick-off is at 2:15pm.