Blackheath put pressure on second place in National One

With promotion and relegation all confirmed in National One, the penultimate weekend of the season may have been seen as an early holiday for most teams, but that certainly wasn’t the case on Saturday.

Five of the top six sides all suffered defeats with Blackheath the only team to profit as they moved to within a point of second place thanks to their win over Esher.

Down at the bottom, Hull Ionians and Cinderford both put on excellent displays to end their home fixtures for the 15/16 season on a high while Blaydon clinched the bragging rights in the north-east derby.

Richmond 22-25 Rosslyn Park

League leaders Richmond failed to celebrate winning the National One title in style as a late try from Paul Mackay snatched victory for Rosslyn Park in their final home game of the season.

Park, who have been in great form since the turn of the year, were 15-10 up at half-time thanks to tries from Mackay and David Vincent.

Mark Kohler dotted down to extend Rosslyn’s advantage after the break, but that lead disappeared in five second-half minutes as Jack Allcock and James Thompson went over to make it 22-20 with seven minutes on the clock remaining.

But despite Samuel Shires being yellow-cared, Mackay left it late to seal victory to take Park up to fifth place in the table.

Plymouth Albion 35-26 Hartpury College

After an eventful week off the field for Plymouth Albion, their players responded with a superb victory over second placed Hartpury College.

Albion’s new owners sacked Director of Rugby Graham Dawe at the start of last week and the players vowed before the match that they would perform for the outgoing Dawe and they duly delivered.

They were 23-14 behind at half-time though thanks to tries from Daniel Thomas, Gareth Thompson, Jonas Mikalcius and James Forrester, but the hosts came back strongly in the second period.

A brace from Matthew Shepherd and a score from Andrew Chesters saw Albion turn the game around and this win has moved them up to ninth following their 30 point deduction. As for College, they stay second but they are now level on points with third placed Ampthill heading into the final game of the season.

Coventry 25-19 Ampthill and District

Ampthill and District were unable to profit from Hartpury’s defeat as they also fell to a loss away at a Coventry side that are now unbeaten in five games.

Ryan Caolan marked his final appearance at the Butts Park Arena for Coventry - before his move to Darlington Mowden Park this summer - with a try after 11 minutes. This was the platform for his side  to go into half-time with a 20-7 lead as Dominic Lespierre also dotted down with Matthew Jones and Peter Weightman kicking seven and three points respectively.

William Evans and Darrell Dyer both crossed for the A’s after the break, but sandwiched in between was a Daniel Rundle try which ultimately sealed the win for the Blues.

Esher 21-24 Blackheath

Blackheath were able to capitalise on defeats above them to move to within a point of Hartpury and Ampthill following this narrow win over Esher.

Tries from Leo Fielding, Markus Burcham and Daniel Hamilton helped Blackheath to victory after Esher had taken an early lead through a Penalty Try and a score from Neil Sweeney. This defeat for Esher drops them down to sixth in the table while Club have their sights firmly set on a top two finish for this term.

Blaydon 27-14 Darlington Mowden Park

The north-east battle in National One was won by Blaydon as they edged out Darlington Mowden Park at Crow Trees.

Jake Henry’s early try was cancelled out by a score from Benjamin Stevenson to level the scores up at 7-7 heading into the break.

But two quick fire second-half tries from Jason Smithson and Stevenson and a penalty from Andrew Baggett gave Blaydon a 22-7 lead on 68 minutes.

Malakai Wacokecoke then dotted down for DMP, but Nathan Bailey made sure of the win on 79 minutes with the bonus-point try for Blaydon.

Fylde 19-15 Wharfedale

Fylde grinded out a victory over Wharfedale in their final home game of the season, but had to come from behind to do so.

The already relegated Wharfedale led at half-time thanks to tries from Oliver Cicognini and Cameron Hudson, but two late scores in the second period from Robert Stewart and Oliver Brennand denied the visitors victory at Woodlands.

Hull Ionians 38-27 Loughborough Studnets

Hull Ionians also completed their home fixtures with an excellent victory over Loughborough Students at Brantingham Park.

The I’s scored nearly all of their points in the first-half with Michael Bateman, Joe Maud, Joe Makin and Laurence Cowen all going over in the first period while Greg Lound kicked three conversions to give the hosts a 31-10 lead.

After the break, Maud added another which Lound converted, but three second-half tries from the Students via Cam Dobingson, Matthew Rogerson and Gabriel Carroll narrowed the gap. Despite this though, Hull Ionians held on for the win and they have now finished 12^th in National One this campaign.

Cinderford 34-27 Henley Hawks

The final game of the weekend saw two relegated sides - Cinderford and Henley Hawks - battle it out at the Memorial Ground where the hosts prevailed in a lively contest.

Cinderford were 21-10 ahead at half-time with tries coming from Samuel Hanks, Alex Frame and Harrison Yorke while James Moffat landed all three conversions. Jake Randall and Julian Watkins dotted down for the Hawks in the first period.

Moffat added two penalties after the break before Edward King scored Cinderford’s fourth try of the afternoon on the hour.

With the score now at 32-10, it looked done and dusted for Cinderford but a late rally from Henley which saw Randall score his second a double from Liam O’Neil set up a grandstand finish with 11 minutes remaining, but the hosts held on for the win.