HIGH-FLYING Westcliff bounced back to winning ways with a 38-11 victory against Tring at the Gables.

Westcliff - who sit second in the London & SE Premier Division standings - had been beaten 22-19 at Sutton & Epsom last time out.

And Westcliff’s director of rugby Rick Compton was delighted to see his side respond strongly to a rare setback.

“Bouncing back after a disappointing afternoon at Sutton was important and we are very satisfied with the response,” said Compton.

“It was a good performance against a strong, determined and capable team from Tring.

“I felt we contained their threat, took our chances when we created or forced them and managed the game well so that I was rarely concerned about the final outcome.

“We exercised good control and we scored some good tries through backs and forwards having changed some of our combinations and drawn on the extended squad.

“All in all it was a good day’s work and further evidence of the group’s growing maturity.

“A couple more results like this and we will in my reckoning be safe. After that who knows.”

Tring started well but, within 10 minutes, they found themselves 10-0 down.

Westcliff punished spilt midfield balls and executed an effective driving maul to score tries through Jack Jones and Billy Morrant.

The next 20 minutes were fought intently with neither side troubling the scoreboard despite robust and occasionally fractious competition at the breakdown.

Just after the half hour mark, Tring kicked a penalty but Westcliff were quick to respond when an audacious cross-field kick from Ben McKeith found Sam Brown on the full and he outstripped the defence to race home.

Jones added the extras and the hosts led 17-3.

As the half drew to a close Tring added another penalty but in the final play Westcliff punished them further when a kick in behind from Jake Spivey was collected by Jones to score his second and Westcliff’s fourth try of the afternoon to make it 24-6 at half-time.

Tring hit back with a try of their own but Westcliff scored twice in the final 10 minutes to secure their win with Morrant and Spivey both touching down.

Westcliff: Bannister, Brown, Reynolds, Jones, Merrick, McKeith, Spivey, Weston, B. Morrant, Dellas, Dartnell, Edwards, Vandermolen, Hatton, Smith

Replacements: Maloney, Marsh & H. Morrant