The Lions secured a second successive win with a bonus point win away at relegation rivals Esher. In doing so the gap to the London side is now just 4 points, with 4 games to play.

The home side enjoyed the majority of the early possession and, despite some resolute Lions defence, got the games' first score when hooker Joe Vajner crossed (5-0).

The Lions soon settled in to the game and started to exert dominance through their set piece. Arthur Allen scored twice, on 22 mins and 32 mins, both from driving mauls. Bouchier converting one of them (5-12).

The Lions added a third score when Ahren Crowley (who had come on for the injured Aaron Pope towards the start of the game) profited from a loose ball that Jamel Hamilton had scooped up before feeding the winger who crossed out wide. Bouchier converted the difficult conversion (5-19).

A late Sam Morley penalty for Esher reduced the deficit just before half time (8-19).

The home side once again came out the blocks fighting, and were rewarded with an Owen Waters try that was converted by Morley (15-19).

Just as they had in the first half though, the Lions started to dominate the contest. Esher were struggling to deal with the Lions scrum, which had benefited from the introduction of experienced campaigners Olly Taylor and Will Roberts off the bench, and Caleb Ashworth saw yellow as a result.

Finally a long period of pressure told when Charlie Davies scored on 75 minutes, retrieving a clever chip from Crowley who had received a sublime pass off Bouchier. The fly half converted to secure the fully deserved bonus point win (15-26).

FT 15-26

Head coach Gareth Collins: ''Obviously it was a bit of a 'cup final' so there was always going to be plenty of nerves around. We took a little while to settle in to the game but once we did I thought we controlled the game really well. Esher are such a dangerous attacking side and for the most part our defence stood up really well and we kept the game away from our line. This result gives us a real opportunity to stay up but there's plenty of work to be done yet. We're looking forward to taking on a tough Sale team back at home next week.''