Old Walcountians suffered a major setback to their League campaign as they were convincingly beaten 31-5 at newly-promoted Old Tiffinians on Saturday.

Walcountians were missing several regular players, most notably in the midfield back area, and were on the receiving end of a whirlwind start from the home side who ran in two tries in the opening 10 minutes. Both came from three-quarter moves, the first after three minutes and the second four minutes later after second phase possession set them up.

The Counts went close to pulling a try back in the 15th minute as their forwards lay siege to the Tiffinians tryline, but were thwarted by strong defensive tackling by the hosts.

Tiffinians them further extened their lead to 17 points in the 21st minute when they put their right-winger in the clear just inside their own half, and he outpaced the Walcountians’ cover defence to go over.

Walcountians, to their credit, tried to force themselves back into the game and got off the mark in the 32nd minute when prop Ben Anderson thundered over for a try from a tap penalty.

The second half remained scoreless until the 24th minute, but Walcountians seldom looked like making up the arrears.

Although they were unlucky to be denied advantage when fly-half Fred South was in the clear with the line at his mercy, the only significant penetration showed was when full-back Chris Drinkwater had the ball.

Tiffinians completed the Counts’ misery in the 24th and 30th minutes with two more tries.

The first came when a clearance kick was charged down, the second came from a back row move.

Walcountians launched a final rally in the closing ten minutes led by their pack, with prop Steve Cowlin, lock Russell Yeo and No 8 Alex Sutherland making the most ground. However, they were unable to add to their earlier score, so victory went to the home side.

Next Saturday, Walcountians face another difficult fixture against an in-form Old Paulines side who have won their three opening games. Kick-off at Clock House, Woodmansterne is at 3pm.