Welwyn’s first visit to Kilburn Cosmos ended in a well-deserved 57-22 win for the hosts.

Their strong performance belied their mid-table position in London North West Three and with the exception of a 20-minute spell in the middle of the match, Welwyn were well-beaten.

The concern for the Welwyn coaches will be a surprisingly fragile defence, which had finished the game so strongly just seven days earlier.

They got off to a dreadful start, conceding four tries in the opening quarter of the game, two of which were converted.

But to their credit, they did not throw in the towel and dominated the period of the match either side of half-time.

Josh Milton had spent a brief spell on the bench as Welwyn made good use of rolling substitutes and was back to his rampaging best as soon as he re-entered the fray.

He notched up two virtually identical tries within three minutes of each other, running both in from 40 metres.

Rory Harcourt converted each one and Welwyn were remarkably back in the game at the break, having narrowed the gap to 24-14.

With the benefit of the slope in the second half, things looked encouraging and Welwyn were soon on the scoreboard again.

The referee penalised Kilburn for offside in front of the posts 30 metres out and Harcourt added a further three points with the minimum of fuss.

The travelling supporters could sense a remarkable turnaround but it was not to be.

Kilburn capitalised on every error by the visitors and were ruthless in their finishing, scoring a further five tries in the second period.

Welwyn’s only response was a well-taken try by Brad Lack following a sustained period of pressure.

However, despite the score there were a few positives for Welwyn.

Dan Comben carried the ball well, Harry Gillespie was sharp on the counter-attack and there was the welcome return of Aaron Chandler who looked dangerous when he came off the bench.

Welwyn will need to a week of hard work to sort out defensive issues and try and find ways of getting the ball wide more often.

Results elsewhere mean they slip to third but Cheshunt will travel to Hobbs Way on Saturday full of confidence having spoiled Verulamians’ unbeaten start to the season.