Harpenden’s hopes of claiming a play-off spot were ended after falling to a 35-28 defeat at Old Haberdashers in London Two North West on Saturday.

The visitors produced a stirring second-half fightback scoring four unanswered tries but it was not enough to snatch a win which seemed impossible at half time after trailing 32-0.

Assistant coach Dave Hynard said: “In the first half we never got going – Old Habs were far hungrier and more physical than us. But I am immensely proud of the way we came back after the break. We stuck to our game plan and showed some real spirit.

“Although we’re disappointed not to have made the play-offs, this has been a good season overall. We’ve played some excellent rugby at times, and with lots of talented young players coming through, the signs for next season already look very promising.”

Harpenden went into the game knowing nothing less than a convincing win and results going their way elsewhere would be enough to clinch second spot.

Harps found themselves 14-0 down after just 12 minutes following tries by Seb Taylor and Simon Miller. Old Haberdashers were dominating both the tight and open play – and by half time the score had rocketed to 32-0 thanks to tries from Taylor, Scott Chatterton and Aidan Baxter along with a penalty from Brian Butterwick.

As the teams turned round, Harps appeared to be facing their worst defeat of the season. But with Curtis Reynolds coming off the bench to go into the front row and Oli Lacey stiffening the second row, Harps began to enjoy parity in the scrums.

With scrum-half John Collins starting to buzz and stand-off half Harry Hutchins using possession intelligently, they looked a different proposition.

Flanker Dave Green led the revival by touching down and five minutes later Hutchins darted in for a try under the posts.

Centre Tom Stagg pounced on a perfectly-weighted chip by Hutchins for a third try and ten minutes later, after Harps had successfully withstood a ferocious assault on their line, Ash Smith scored a fourth try.

Thanks to Tom Sweeney’s successful conversions of all four tries, the difference in the score was now just four points. But as Harps pressed forward again, Old Haberdashers regained the initiative and sealed the win with a penalty.