It was another away day and another host battling for promotion - but it was also another clash where Welwyn departed with a huge amount of positives.

Having been beaten at second-placed London Scottish Lions last time out, the Hobbs Way-based rugby club were facing the team in third place in Counties One Herts Middlesex, Chiswick.

And although Welwyn fell to a 32-23 defeat, they once again came away with a bonus point for four tries and were a conversion away from a second one.

There was so much more too. 

Eighteen year-old Will Nash came on towards the end and looked very comfortable at this level, whilst utility back Brendon Marume and skipper Josh Milton were outstanding throughout.

They had travelled with only two replacements and that was put to the test when fly-half Tom Hamer was forced off with a groin strain on 25 minutes.

Christian Salisbury came on and filled in manfully on the wing until moving into his usual back-row position later in the game.

The sides had exchanged penalties prior to the substitution and it was the hosts who scored the first try after it following a line-out near to the line.

Welwyn responded well though and after a period of pressure, Marume jinked through to score and Kai Wells was unlucky to see his conversion come back off the post.

During the lead-up to the try, Chiswick had a player sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes and three minutes into that spell, another mazy run by Marume allowed him to put Fin Sutherland into space, giving Welwyn a 13-8 lead at the break.

As last week, Welwyn were caught cold straight after the break and Chiswick’s outstanding back row sprinted clear to touch down close to the posts.

The conversion gave them the lead at 15-13 but it didn't last long as a well-worked move around the front of the line-out got Harry Slade across in the corner.

A yellow card to Ryan Saunders for failing to retreat the full 10 metres after a penalty had been quickly taken proved crucial with Chiswick scoring twice to move into a 27-18 lead with 20 minutes remaining.

One more unconverted try left Welwyn with a mountain to climb but they did have the last say, the impressive Sutherland scoring the fourth and bonus-point score.

Welwyn travel to Hitchin on Saturday, a rearranged fixture following the ice of January.