An HAC try in what turned out to be the last play of the game saw Old Priorians fall to another last minute defeat, as their long wait for a victory over their rivals continued at Chiswick Rugby Club on Saturday afternoon in an end-to-end encounter.

OPs appeared to make a promising start but the hosts were able to pin them back in the early stages, taking a scrum penalty in the seventh minute that was expertly finished by scrum half Adam Phimister, making a blind break to take a well angled line and score from around 20 metres out.

The Twisters then grew into the game and forced a number of HAC mistakes, the penalty count stacking up which set the platform for Priorians to head into the opposition 22 ; a well placed kick to touch from Will Taylor put OPs on the front foot from the lineout, driving over with Ed Hansell the one to place the ball down for his first try of the season, going unconverted to level the game 5-5 just beyond the end of the first quarter.

Phimister was on the scoresheet again as the City club reestablished their lead, cutting a swathe through a lagging defence to sccot in under the posts, making for an easy conversion and seven points. The response from the Twisters was near immediate as Guy Djedje's terrific carry up to the line was eventually finished by Will Curd, scoring both his first for the club and his first ever senior try, Taylor converting for 12-12.

They weren't level for long with HAC able to get the ball back from the restart and go wide, more suspect tackling giving an easy route through, followed by an impressive touchline conversion to make it 19-12 at half time.

An excellent start to the second forty minutes for the visitors put HAC under immediate pressure, unable to cope with a high ball that swung momentum in the favour of OPRFC, creating a fast and effective attack from the scrum with yet another pick-and-go reaping rewards, Curd doubling his total for the day and his career.

The basketball like nature of the fixture continued, chaos reigning for OPs and once again the home side took possession and exploited weakness in the width for their try bonus point with about half an hour of the game left. The next score would be crucial in deciding the direction of the match and it fell in favour of Priorians, continuing to go with what was working as their dominant forwards battered away, knocking at the door until Rhodri Darwent crashed over, Taylor converting.

Continued indiscipline from HAC put them a player down, OPs meting out appropriate punishment with a Cathal Sheehan try fifteen minutes from time to take the lead for the first time in the match at 33-26 ; the visitors then received a yellow of their own, giving away penalties of their own and making the route to the goal all the easier, fly half Martin Cimprish the one to score and then convert his own effort.

The tie was all even at 33-33 in the final minutes as OPRFC found themselves on the front foot just beyond the halfway line ; yet, they found themselves on the wrong side of the referee's whistle once more and were penalised for an infringement at the breakdown, the Artillerymen working the ball downfield via a kick to touch before driving forward, then releasing the backs where a devastating midfield break followed by a well timed pass put them in for a try at the death, converted as the Twisters fell to defeat.

An infinitely entertaining clash, the Twisters will be gutted to have lost in such a fashion given the endeavour across the 80 minutes, with little to pick between the sides as they both played very well to their strengths ; this is also the closest they have run HAC in recent years and will take a number of positives from what was a generally cohesive performance.

OPs remain in ninth in Regional 2 Thames with two points taken from the fixture, as they host Beaconsfield at Perivale next Saturday.

OPRFC Scorers

T : Hansell, Curd 2, Darwent, Sheehan

C : Taylor 4