THE Dragon’s Teeth moved back up to fourth in the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Division Two South table with a fine 31-21 derby victory at Reading 3rd XV.

The away side made a solid start and hit the front 10 minutes in as skipper Rupert Erskine smashed his way over following good work from the pack, James Dias unable to add the extras.

Yet Reading hit the front early in the second quarter with an interception try which was converted, edging them 7-5 up.

The Teeth suffered a further setback as centre Herny Gornall-King was forced off through injury, only for his replacement Andy Whiteaker to take advantage of a beautiful Tom Ansell pass to dot down under the posts, Dias making no mistake in putting his side 12-7 in front.

Reading rallied, though, and set about testing the Rams defence with a number of big ball carries before the irrepressible Jez Flynn pulled off a brilliant stripping of the ball to allow Dias to clear.

At the other end of the field the Teeth then extended their lead, Flynn nudging the ball in behind the defensive line before fine work from wing Mike Stroud and No. 8 Hamish Bergeret allowed Sam Brain to collect a kick from the latter to touchdown before the break.

With Dias unable to slot the kick, the visitors went into the interval 17-7 up, but they came out flying as more fine work from the forwards gave half-backs Flynn and Ansell the chance to set-up man-of-the-match centre Tom Burrows to blast his way across the whitewash.

Dias this time converted for 24-7, and after Reading were momentarily reduced to 14 men after their scrum-half was harshly sin-binned for a high tackle, Rams moved further ahead when wing AJ Peplinski blitzed his way past two would-be defenders, stepped another, burned off two more and dotted down next to the posts.

The conversion from Dias gave the Teeth a 24-point advantage, but Reading refused to give up and hit back with a converted try from their No. 8.

Dragon’s second row Rupert Miller received a yellow card after going off his feet and following some patient work, the hosts went over for their third try of the afternoon, the extras added to cut the gap to 31-21.

However, time eventually ran out for Reading to try and snatch anything more, and with Rams putting in some further brave defence, they were ultimately good value for a win which keeps them well and truly in the mix for a top-two finish.