Macclesfield relegated but Hull Ionians take vital step towards safety

All the attention in National One was on the battle against the drop in Round 27 and as expected, there were twists and turns involving the teams down at the wrong end of the table. 

Macclesfield’s time in National One is now over after they suffered a narrow and painful defeat at home to second placed Plymouth Albion. Giles Heagerty’s side were promoted into this division 12 months ago, but after 27 matches, their time is now up in the third tier of English rugby.

The relegation battle is now between just two sides; Hull Ionians and Blaydon. The Yorkshire club took a huge step towards remaining in National One as they secured victory over Cambridge while Blaydon slipped to a home defeat against Ampthill & District.

The outcome of the results from Round 27 means that Hull Ionians have leapfrogged Blaydon and are now out of the relegation zone. The I’s are now three points clear of the north-east side with three matches of the season remaining so expect this battle to go right down to the wire.

At the right end of the division, newly crowned champions Hartpury College received their trophy this weekend and lifted the title after a hard-fought victory over Loughborough Students. Elsewhere in the top-half, Coventry moved ahead of Rosslyn Park after another home victory for the Midlands club and Old Albanian are back into eighth place after winning away at Fylde.

Other results in National One saw Esher secure another comfortable win while Birmingham Moseley edged out Blackheath.

Hartpury College 40-31 Loughborough Students

Hartpury College remain on course to complete this season undefeated as they clinched their 27^th straight victory in a pulsating encounter against Loughborough Students.

Two tries from Jonas Mikalcius and scores from Mat Protheroe and Steve Leonard saw the newly crowned champions open up a 28-10 lead at half-time.

Loughborough scored the first try after the break through Austin Beckett, but Protheroe grabbed his second two minutes later to restore Hartpury’s 18 point advantage.

Both Beckett and Protheroe exchanged tries once again later in the half - with the Gloucester fly-half completing his hat-trick - before Sam Pointon touched down for a consolation score for Students late on.

Macclesfield 18-21 Plymouth Albion

Macclesfield have been relegated from National One after suffering another painful defeat as a late try saw Plymouth Albion snatch victory at Priory Park.

Tries from Sam Daly and Harry Strong helped put Plymouth 14-10 ahead at half-time after Elliot Brierley’s early Macclesfield try.

A Matt King score put Macc in front again and the divisions’ bottom club were on course for an unlikely victory when Lewis Barker slotted over a penalty just before the hour.

Albion were then reduced to 14 men as Will Norton was sin-binned, but in the 75^th minute, Matt Crosscombe touched down for a converted scored to give Albion the lead.

Plymouth then had to defend valiantly in the final stages as Crosscombe was yellow-carded, but Giles Heagerty’s men couldn’t find a way through as their valiant display wasn’t enough to keep them in this division.

Blaydon 17-40 Ampthill and District

Blaydon have dropped back into the relegation zone in National One after suffering a heavy defeat against Ampthill and District.

Sam Baker opening the scoring for the A’s after just 10 minutes and the winger went on to complete his hat-trick as the visitors led 26-17 at the break.

Joe Berics grabbed Ampthill’s fourth try before the interval while Andrew Davidson and Jack Davidson went over to keep Blaydon well and truly in this contest.

However, Ampthill pressed home their advantage after the restart as Syd Blackmore and England U20 international Ralph Adam-Hales crossed to complete the victory for the A’s while Blaydon are now three points from safety.

Blackheath 25-32 Birmingham Moseley

Birmingham Moseley secured their ninth away win of the season as they battled to victory against Blackheath at Well Hall.

Moseley scored twice in the first period thanks to tries from Chris Brightwell and Charles Baffour after falling behind to two Mark Cooke penalties.

The game ebbed and followed after the restart as both sides exchanged tries. Ed Sheldon’s score for Moseley just after the interval was swiftly cancelled out by Tom Stradwick while James Williams’ try was matched by Mike Mvelase’s effort.

Mike Penn was then yellow-carded for Moseley and ‘Club’ took full advantage of his absence as Chris Walker crossed to reduce Moseley's lead to just four points.

However, Blackheath couldn’t sustain a period of possession and man of the match Williams added a late penalty to seal the win for Kevin Maggs’ side

Coventry 36-27 Rosslyn Park

Will Maisey scored 21 points as Coventry beat Rosslyn Park to move up to fifth in the National One table.

Two Harry Leonard kicks put Rosslyn Park on top before Maisey knocked over two penalties and converted Heath Stevens’ try.

Park hit back with a Penalty Try which saw Fred Tuilagi yellow-carded, but the hosts regained the lead through Matt Price.

However, scores from Sam Aspland-Robinson and Mark Kohler put the visitors ahead and they still held their advantage heading into the break despite Jimmy Litchfield’s try.

After the interval, Maisey’s try gave Cov a bonus-point and the lead before another Leonard penalty brought the scores level,

But, any hopes of Park becoming only the second side to win at the Butts Park Arena this season died when Maisey slotted over three penalties in the final 15 minutes to seal a fifth straight victory for Rowland Winter’s men.

Fylde 17-21 Old Albanian

Old Albanian are back in the top half of the National One standings as they survived a spirted fightback from Fylde to earn a victory at Woodlands.

The OAs are now in eighth position in the table and considering they were promoted back into this division last April, it would be a wonderful achievement for James Shanahan’s men to finish in the top half.

Although Fylde took an early lead  in this encounter thanks to a Jack Turley try, scores from Harry Bate, Jack Daly and Shanahan put the OA’s ahead at half-time.

Fylde brought themselves back into this contest on 56 minute thanks to Evan Stewart’s converted try, but despite a penalty from Greg Smith three minutes from time, the visitors were able to hold on to their advantage.

Esher 50-33 Darlington Mowden Park

Tom James and Calum Waters both scored twice as Esher beat Darlington Mowden Park in an entertaining encounter at Moseley Road.

Hugo Seccombe and James got the balling rolling for Esher before Waters grabbed his brace and Spencer Sutherland also crossed to give Esher a commanding 33-0 lead at half-time.

DMP looked like they were sparking a comeback after the interval as Shaun McCartney and Dave Fisher touched down inside six minutes, but Esher landed a penalty before James clinched his second score of the afternoon via an interception to put the hosts 43-14 lead.

DMP responded yet again as Jack Payne and McCartney reduced the arrears to 17 points with 20 minutes remaining, but Lloyd Davis’ try brought up the half century for the second time in as many games for Esher before Josh Bragman grabbed a late consolation for DMP.

Hull Ionians 31-26 Cambridge

Hull Ionians edged a thrilling National One contest at Brantingham Park as they beat Cambridge to move out of the relegation zone.

The visitors led 14-0 after early tries from James Ayrton and Jake McCloud before James Sanderson’s score brought the Yorkshire side back into the game.

But Cambridge led 21-7 at the interval after a second try from Ayrton following a yellow-card shown to Hull Ionians’ Phil Eggleshaw.

Issac Green’s try was the perfect start to the second period for Hull and it got better for the hosts when Ayrton was sin-binned and Sam Wilson took full advantage to put the I’s ahead for the first time in this encounter.

Cambridge hit back as Albert Portsmouth rounded-off a superb move to put the away side five points ahead, but a try from Ally Forth and a late drop-goal via the boot of Callum Irvine sealed a huge win for Hull Ionians which now leaves them three points clear of the relegation places.