Greene King IPA Championship - Round Three Review
Cornish Pirates maintained their 100 per cent start to the new Greene King IPA Championship season
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Connor Hickinbottom takes a look back at last week's Championship action as Cornish Pirates shone once again.
Nottingham 29 – 19 London Scottish
Nottingham edged out London Scottish at Lady Bay to record their first win of the season.
It was a game of two halves between the sides.
Nottingham scored 26 of their 29 points in the first half whilst the Exiles scored all 19 of theirs in the second period.
Nottingham opened up the scoring with a slick try as Billy Robinson hit an inside line to go over unchallenged.
The Green & Whites were consistently threatening London Scottish and it wasn’t long before their hard work was rewarded once again as David Williams scored in the corner.
Scottish looked rattled as the hosts onslaught continued. Nottingham’s forwards were next to get involved in the scoring as Will Owen forced his way over to give the home side a 19-0 lead inside the first 15 minutes.
It continued to go downhill for the Exiles as Nottingham found hole after hole in the visitors defence. They powered over from close range for their bonus-point try through James Penman, leaving Nottingham with a 26-0 lead for the half.
The game looked like it was dead and buried but, as London Scottish have shown in their previous fixtures, they are more than capable of mounting a comeback.
London Scottish laid siege to the Nottingham line with some outstanding defence from the hosts.
The Exiles finally went over on the hour mark with Rob Stevenson the scorer.
The game had shot to life. Nottingham added a penalty minutes later to try and re-establish some control, but failed to do so as the Exiles went over again through Billy Harding. The hooker’s converted try making it 29-12 with 15 minutes left to play.
The Green & Whites produced an outstanding defensive play to shut the relentless Exiles out until the final minute of the game when captain Mark Bright grabbed a late consolation try for the visitors.
Coventry 34 – 27 Bedford Blues
A rampaging first-half from Coventry secured their first bonus-point victory in the Championship this season.
This year’s newbies put on a try scoring clinic, scoring four tries in just 15 minutes, to put themselves out of sight and inflict a first defeat of the season on the Blues.
It was a poor start from Bedford as the visitors gifted Cov a cheap penalty which Jake Sharp slotted with ease, but the Blues did grab the first try of the game as Jamie Elliot made a powerful break through the hosts defence to dot down.
Coventry went on the offensive and were back in the lead just minutes later. A mix up in the Blues defence allowed Andy Bulumakau to glide in under the posts for the hosts first try.
Five minutes later and Cov were back under the posts – Tom Kessell grabbing the first of his two tries.
The hosts smelt blood and were in again soon after as Kessell grabbed his second of the game, increasing Cov’s lead to 29-7.
Bedford closed the gap before the break as Ed Coulson’s pinpoint cross-field kick found Ryan Hutler in space to put the youngster in for his first try of the game and the Blues added a penalty through Coulson to put them within 12 at the interval.
Coventry added another try shortly after the restart through flanker Adam Peters to secure the victory.
The Blues did threaten a fightback as Hutler grabbed his second try before another cross-field kick found Harry Davies who scored on his debut.
It was ultimately too much for the visitors as Coventry held on for the victory.
Ealing Trailfinders 42 – 24 Yorkshire Carnegie
Ealing Trailfinders made it back-to-back victories with a five-try victory over Yorkshire Carnegie.
The Trailfinders looked to be back to their best, dominating Carnegie from the opening whistle using exquisite offloads and powerful carries to unlock the visitors’ defence.
Just two minutes on the clock and Ealing got the ball rolling as Rayn Smid went in for a try.
Carnegie were unable to cope with Ealing and the hosts went over just a minute later but saw their try disallowed.
It didn’t take the home side long before they were over the whitewash once more. Former Carnegie player Lewis Jones split the Carnegie defence with an outstanding run for Smid to score his second.
The visitors simply could not deal with the Trailfinders ability to offload the ball, shown once again as James Cordy Reddan finished off another well worked Ealing try to make it 19-0 within 15 minutes.
Carnegie were finally able to get on the board shortly after ad dominant play from their forwards powered the visitors over for a converted try. Carnegie and Ealing then traded penalties to make it 22-10 at the half.
The Trailfinders continued to dominate proceedings in the second half, slicing through the Carnegie defence at will and they added a try through Pat Howard shortly after the break.
Carnegie were able to hit back straight away as Dan Temm barged over from close range.
Yorkshire, once again, gifted their hosts a try to make it five on the day for Ealing as Jordy Reid powered over for a thoroughly deserved try.
There was to a final consolation try for Carnegie as exceptional break from George Watkins was finished off by Brendan Cope.
Ealing killed off any hopes of a last-minute comeback with two late penalties to secure a convincing victory.
Richmond 17 – 28 Doncaster Knights
The Knights secured their first away win of the season with a sensational second-half display.
Richmond started the game at breakneck speed as they charged down a kick from Donny’s Tom James to score within the first minute.
Donny fought their way back into the game through two penalties from Steve McColl only to see all their hard work undone as Ronnie McLean drove over from short range to extend the hosts’ lead to 14-6.
The Knights were able to reduce the deficit shortly after as hooker Ben Hunter drove over after a superb maul to make it 14-13 going into the break.
It was a tense second-half as both sides pushed for the win. McColl added a third penalty to put the Knights into the lead for the first time in the game, but Richmond responded with a penalty of their own through Rob Kirby.
This was as good as it was going to get for Richmond. Lloyd Hayes added an outstanding third try for Donny after good work in the midfield and there was still time for another as James intercepted a pass in the final minute to secure the bonus-point victory for the Knights.
Hartpury 17 – 46 Cornish Pirates
Cornish Pirates continued their perfect start to the season with a seven-try demolition of Hartpury College.
It looked to be going so well for Hartpury as the hosts scored two tries in the first eight minutes to go 12-points up.
The Pirates had slowly settled into the game and once they began to get their hands on the ball, the first score was inevitable. Robin Wedlake went over for his first ever Championship try and the first of his four tries on the day.
This score opened the floodgates for the visitors. Callum Patterson finished off a well worked try to give the Pirates a two-point lead.
Their advantage was further increased shortly after as Wedlake intercepted a poor pass to sprint in from 80 metres out. Will Cargill added the conversion and a further penalty to make it 24-11.
Hartpury ended the half strongly, scoring a try through formed Pirate Will Tanner after a strong driving maul.
Any thoughts of a comeback from Hartpury were short-lived as the Pirates added a further four tries in the second-half. It took the Pirates just six minutes before they broke through the hosts defence with Cargill being the bonus-point try scorer.
The young Cornishman, Wedlake, grabbed his third and fourth try of the afternoon with it becoming all too easy for the Pirates.
A final try from Cornish’s Harvey Skinner put Hartpury out of their misery and extends the Pirates’ undefeated streak to 10 games.
