Kieran O’Shea blew Harlow away with three tries in a pre-season win for Hatfield Queen Elizabeth Rugby Club at Roe Hill.

The 34-12 success saw the coaching team of Ian Matthews and Richard Fisher able to field a strong squad, including the return of Jon Thompson and Stuart Yule.

Hatfield started strongly with power and pace in both the forwards and backs and the scrum was strong, pushing the opposition off their own ball.

The defence was solid too and after soaking up some early pressure, O’Shea opened the scoring with a try.

That was soon added to by a well-worked team try that ended with Yule smashing through the ranks and feeding O'Shea via Charlie Gibbs.

Marc McCrystal got try number three before half-time but they went off the boil after the break, allowing Harlow to score two quick tries.

They did regain their composure in the final 20 minutes though and O'Shea completed his treble before Gibbs added his name to the list of scorers.

The final try came from a forwards move from a line-out. Yule powering through to wrap things up.

Matthews said: “It was an excellent result with the squad growing and working on all aspects of the game.

"It was great to see everything come to fruition in time for the start of the league season and to see the boys win.”

The first-team heads to Ongar on Saturday for the final pre-season outing while the second-team, the Mosquitos, are at home to Datchworth.

Hatfield Queen Elizabeth is an inclusive club and players of all abilities are welcome to come and try out rugby. Call or text 07487 517368.