Wymondham held on to top spot in Eastern Counties Division One with a narrow victory at Crusaders on Saturday.

Crusaders struggled to produce their recent home form and elementary errors gave Wymondham some good field positions, resulting in Wyatt putting the visitors in front with an early drop goal. The same player missed two good penalty opportunities, but Wymondham took advantage of Crusaders' misdemeanors and stunned the home side with tries from Brugger, Wilson and Anderson-Brown and looked home and dry at 24-0.

Crusaders forwards, who had worked hard to give their backs a good supply of ball, decided to retain the ball themselves, and some good interpassing between the big men resulted in Stuart Cameron scoring under the posts. Smith converted to give the home side hope at 24-7.

Crusaders rung the changes at half-time with Rob Loone switching to fly-half for the injured Elliott and Ryan Harris, who had an excellent first half fielding Wyatt's kicks on the wing, was switched to scrum-half.

Just as Wymondham had dominated the first half, the roles were now reversed with the visitors having to defend for long periods in their 22 as the Crusaders pack took control.

Crusaders' domination in the scrum was rewarded with a forwards push over try, touched down by Ross Nicholson. Repeated penalties against the visitors tested the referee's patience and a penalty try brought the home side to within five points at 19-24.

Wymondham broke out of defence with 10 minutes remaining and Wyatt had an opportunity to relieve the pressure with a penalty but he pulled his kick wide.

The visitors were reduced to 14 men when a player was sin-binned for a late tackle on Crusaders scrum-half Harris who was unable to continue, but Wymondham held on to take the points.