Classy Hartpury stretch lead in National One

Hartpury College extended their advantage at the top of National One as they ran in 11 tries to secure a 12^th straight bonus-point win.

Their thumping victory came against Darlington Mowden Park and it means that College now have a 13 point lead at the summit of this division.

Second placed Birmingham Moseley left it late to snatch a win away at newly-promoted Macclesfield and Kevin Maggs’ side know there is now a lot of work to be done if they have ambitions of an immediate return to the Championship.

Elsewhere, Loughborough Students put in yet another sparkling performance as they beat Blackheath at Well Hall, Rosslyn Park continued their recent excellent form as they held off a late fightback to beat Fylde whilst Plymouth Albion made it four in a row with a victory over Blaydon.

Hartpury College 74-0 Darlington Mowden Park

Hartpury College extended their winning streak to 12 matches as they picked up a bonus-point victory in some style against Darlington Mowden Park.

The league leaders ran in 11 tries to seal yet another five-point win which leaves them 13 points clear at the summit of National One.

College led 29-0 at half-time thanks to tries from Luke Eves, Elias Caven, Will Safe and Robbie Shaw in a first 40 minutes which saw Darlington Mowden Park receive two yellow cards.

After the Hartpury forwards had laid the foundations in the first period, the backs took centre stage after the break as some dazzling footwork and handling saw College run riot.

Jacob Perry and James Stephenson scored quick fire tries before replacement Nathan Taylor went over for try number seven.

DMP then went through their best spell of the game, but couldn’t make their positive build-up play count as Hartpury continued to be ruthless.

Mike Wilcox and Steve Leonard both dotted down before Caven and Perry put the icing on the cake for John Barnes’ men as DMP fell to their worst defeat in 15 years.

Macclesfield 15-17 Birmingham Moseley

Birmingham Moseley scored a last minute Penalty Try as they survived a scare to beat a valiant Macclesfield at Priory Park.

Tries from Elliot Brierley and the in-form Myles Hall put Macclesfield 12-3 in front at half-time, with James Williams landing a penalty for Moseley.

Macclesfield’s lead was under serious threat in the second period as the visitors pinned the home side back, but Macc were able to absorb the Moseley attacks until they eventually cracked.

Moseley were handed a lifeline when Josh Redfern was sin-binned on the hour before the back row picked up a second yellow card in the final few minutes to leave Macc a man light.

It was while the flanker was first in the bin that Tim Molenaar dotted down for the away side 10 minutes from the end and although Tom Morton put Macc five points ahead with a penalty, the extra man for Moseley proved vital.

Macclesfield were doing everything in their power to stop Moseley from crossing their line, but with the final play of the match, referee Gareth Holsgrove awarded a penalty try which the visitors converted to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Blaydon 17-38 Plymouth Albion

Plymouth Albion produced an impressive performance to beat Blaydon as they ran in five tries to secure their fourth straight win.

Albion actually found themselves 7-3 behind at half-time thanks to a score from Jason Smithson after the ever reliable Kieran Hallett had opened the scoring from the tee for the away side.

It got worse for Plymouth after the break as Dan Marshall slipped behind the visitors’ defence to extend Blaydon’s advantage to nine points.

Dan Parkes’ side hit back though as Robin Wedlake-Millecam raced over the whitewash before Matthew Shepherd put them in front with his first try of the afternoon.

But the spirit and determination we have seen from Blaydon over the last few weeks was on show again at Crow Trees as they levelled things up in this contest when Rhudri Dawson dotted down.

However, that was all Blaydon could muster up as Albion took control of this encounter in the remainder of the second 40. Shepherd crossed for his second before Will Norton delivered the bonus-point try and Dan Powell wrapped up the win with his first score in Albion colours.

Blackheath 26-32 Loughborough Students

Blackheath staged a stirring comeback, but could not snatch victory against an excellent Loughborough Students side at Well Hall.

Club, who came into this fixture having lost just one of their previous nine matches, found themselves 17-0 behind at the break.

Jack Stapley and Rotimi Segun both scored tries while the impressive Josh Sharp kicked the extras as well as a penalty.

Within six minutes of the restart, Will Edwards and Charlie Kingham had added two more tries for Dave Morris’ side before Will Morrison barged his way over to put the Students 32-0 in front.

Blackheath were clearly shell-shocked by this Loughborough performance, but eventually got themselves on the board through Andres Nilsson who latched on to Simon Whatling’s kick.

The hosts were still trailing by 28 points heading into the final 10 minutes, but tries from Aston Croall and then Devin Montgomery, saw them reduce the deficit to just six points with six minutes remaining, but Blackheath fell just short of a remarkable turnaround.

Hull Ionians 13-49 Ampthill and District

Ampthill and District returned to winning ways on the road in some style as they ran in seven tries to secure a convincing bonus point win over Hull Ionians.

The A’s had seven different try scorers in their first away triumph since their victory over Macclesfield at the beginning of October.

Matt Collins and Brett Sturgess scored tries in the first half for the away side while Joe Tarrant kicked eight points to give Ampthill an 18-10 half-time lead.

Hull Ionians’ points came via a try from Aquille Smith as well as five points from the boot of Lee Millar and it was the full-back who got the first points of the second period as he slotted over another penalty.

However, that was as good as it got for The I’s as Ampthill took charge in this contest.

Sam Baker, Maama Molitika, Stef Jones, Sam Hanks and Elliot Reeder all went over to complete a fine away win for the Bedfordshire side.

Coventry 55-12 Cambridge

Coventry secured their sixth home victory of the season as Rowland Winter saw his new side beat his old club at the Butts Park Arena.

Winter, who joined Cov as Director of Rugby from Cambridge in the summer, watched on as the hosts dominated this clash with first-half touchdowns from Scott Tolmie, Darrell Dyer and Rob Knox giving them a 24-0 lead at the break.

It was more of the same in the second period as Penalty Try was followed by scores from Owain James, Corey Hircock and Jack Willis.

Tries from Chris Leatham and James Ayrton were the only Cambridge contributions in the second period.

Tony Fenner was on fire with the boot, kicking five conversions and a penalty, whilst Will Maisey added a late conversion for Coventry.

Fylde 34-45 Rosslyn Park

Rosslyn Park secured their fourth win in their last five matches as they beat Fylde at Woodlands to move into the top half of National One.

The visitors led 32-12 at half-time, helped by two tries from winger Dom Morris as well as scores from Adam Frampton and Henry Robinson.

But despite a Harry Leonard penalty, second-half scores from Jack Turley, Connor Wilkinson and Tom Burtonwood saw Fylde move to within six points of Park as they capitalised on two yellow cards shown to the visitors.

With 13 minutes to go, Leonard steadied the ship by landing another three points, only for Evan Stewart to make the score 38-34.

However, Park weathered the storm and held firm in defence. They were rewarded for their endeavour late on as Zianna Alexis dotted down to seal another win for Rosslyn.

Esher 34-43 Old Albanian

The Old Albanian edged an 11-try thriller to hold off Esher and secure their fifth victory of the season.

The OA’s scored two early tries, one coming from Morgan Thompson, to take the lead but the game was all square at 12-12 after 17 minutes as Tom Yellowtrees and Stephen Boatman crossed for Esher.

Boatman was then on the end of a high tackle from Ross Hamilton who was sin-binned and the Esher fly-half landed the resulting penalty to put his side in front.

However, the OA’s went into the break ahead as Harry Bate touched down to give the visitors a 19-15 advantage.

Chris Lombard and Thomas Whitehurst exchanged tries after the interval before the OAs’ Ben Palmer slotted over a penalty to put the away side 29-22 up.

But once again, their lead was reduced as Joe Beckett dived over to put Esher to within two points of the OA’s.

The pendulum then swung in the favour of the OA’s as two quick fire tries from Nick Foster and Craig Dowsett put them in control of this sea-saw contest.

However, Esher fought back to have the final say of this encounter as Spencer Sutherland crossed late on, but it was merely a consolation for the Surrey club.