An injury-hit Deal & Betteshanger Lions suffered a 34-3 mauling at high-flying Warlingham in London 2 South East on Saturday.

In the early stages, the Lions coped well with the Warlingham attack, despite losing the territorial battle, with Anthony Hart, Joseph Hinkins and Mathew Michael outstanding.

Third-in-the-table Warlingham eased into the lead with a 13th-minute penalty but with six minutes of the half left, Martin Robinson levelled with a 35-metre penalty.

The Lions pack performed well against their much bigger and heavier opponents at the scrums but at the line-outs they sorely missed Wes Bull.

At half-time, with the score at 3-3, Hinkins had to leave the field with a groin strain to be replaced by Andy Agar.

A fine individual try by the Warlingham full-back, who gathered the ball in his own 22, chipped ahead and then caught his kick to race in from 50 metres, gave the home side a perfect start to the second half. This score opened the floodgates, with the Lions losing a little composure.

One area to cause Deal & Betteshanger difficulty was at the breakdown where players need to have low body positions and drive over the ball rather than the first men arriving trying to pick up and being driven off the ball.

The home side scored at regular intervals to secure a well-deserved victory over a Lions side who worked hard but were unable to overcome the absence of many regular first team players.