Moseley’s home record ended by Ampthill

Ampthill and District moved up to second in the National One table as they ended Birmingham Moseley’s 100 per cent home record.

The A’s produced a superb last quarter to become the first side to beat Moseley at Billesley Common this season while it was a wretched end to a tough week for the Midlands side.

Elsewhere, Harry Strong’s late try sealed victory for Plymouth Albion against Old Albanian which saw the men from Brickfields move into the top three while Rosslyn Park made it five wins on the spin as they beat Darlington Mowden Park.

League leaders Hartpury College made it 19 straight wins as they comfortably beat Coventry, but down at the wrong end of the table, there were huge wins for Esher and Blaydon who saw off relegation rivals Fylde and Macclesfield while Hull Ionians narrowly lost to high flying Blackheath.

Hartpury College 50-19 Coventry

Hartpury College continued their stroll towards the National One title and promotion to the Championship after they eased past Coventry.

Tries from Mat Gilbert and Rhys Oakley as well as 10 points from the boot of Jacob Perry helped extend their lead to 20-12 by the break, with Will Maisey kicking four penalties for Cov.

Luke Eves (2), Levi Davis, Joe Dancer and Jonas Mikalcius added second-half tries for Hartpury who secured their 19^th straight win.

James Stokes scored Coventry’s only try five minutes from the end as their unbeaten run came to an abrupt halt.  

Birmingham Moseley 18-35 Ampthill and District

Ampthill and District kept their second place hopes alive as a fine performance ended Birmingham Moseley’s 100 per cent home record.

Ampthill claimed a first-half try through Aleki Luti, but they were 15-7 behind at the break as Owen Hills and Chris Brightwell both touched down for Moseley with Mike Penn adding the extras.

The second-half began with Maama Molitka crossing for the As to reduce Moseley’s lead to just a point, but Penn was on target once again from the tee to edge the hosts further ahead.

But that was as good as it got for Kevin Maggs’ side as in the final quarter, Joe Becris, Paino Hehea and Sam Baker all crossed to seal the win for the visitors and move Ampthill up into the silver medal spot in National One.

Old Albanian 13-18 Plymouth Albion

Harry Strong’s second-half try helped Plymouth Albion overcome Old Albanian for their first National One away win under Kieran Hallett.

OAs held a narrow 6-3 lead at half-time, Ben Palmer landing two kicks as Will Hooley slotted over a penalty for Plymouth.

Albion then clicked into gear in the second-half and were rewarded for their positivity when Dean Squire crossed for the first try of the afternoon and his first try of the season.

After a midfield battle for large chunks of the second period, the OAs were next to cross the whitewash when Nick Foster slipped through a hole in the Plymouth defence to touch down and tie the game up.

It was getting to a stage where whoever scored next would seal the victory and in the end it was left to Strong to dive over for the visitors to give them a five point cushion.

Herbie Stupple’s yellow-card two minutes from the end gave OAs a brief lifeline, but Albion were able to see out their 13^th win of the season.

Blackheath 31-29 Hull Ionians

A late Jake Lloyd try saw Blackheath snatch victory from relegation threatened Hull Ionians at Well Hall.

Lloyd scored the crucial try with three minutes remaining as Blackheath once again grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat against Hull Ionians.

The I’s put themselves in a great position for only their second away win of the season as Chris Eggleshaw and James Sanderson crossed in the first-half to give them a 17-15 lead.

Lloyd, Geoff Griffiths and Mark Cooke had crossed in the first period for ‘Club’ and the hosts went ahead after the break following Leo Fiedling’s interception try from 80 metres out, but the away side struck back again as Sam Wilson darted over.

The Yorkshire outfit then increased their advantage on the hour as Zak Poole crossed for their fourth try of the afternoon and when Griffiths was yellow-carded for Blackheath, a first win in six looked on the cards for the men from Brantingham Park.

But their lead of five points faded away as Lloyd crossed for a converted try following a sustained spell of pressure from Blackheath who were then able to hold on for victory despite two late drop-goal attempts from visiting fly-half Callum Irvine.

Darlington Mowden Park 19-20 Rosslyn Park

Rosslyn Park secured their fifth win in a row as they overcame a second-half fight back against Darlington Mowden Park.

The away side led 17-7 at the break thanks to tries from Charlie Piper and Hugo Ellis as well seven points from the boot of Harry Leonard, with Simon Uzokwe going over for his second try in as many weeks for DMP.

After the break, Leonard extend Rosslyn’s lead from the tee, but the hosts then started to look more like the side that had racked up three straight victories prior to this game.

Adam Radwan sprinted over for DMP’s second try of the match which Josh Bragman converted, but the fly-half couldn’t slot over a penalty shortly after as his kick crashed the upright.

DMP were in the ascendency and their pressure paid off when James Barnard touched down to bring them to within three points of their visitors. There was time for a restart, but DMP couldn’t fashion one more clear cut chance as Rosslyn Park’s first half display was enough for them to seal the win.

Loughborough Students 42-27 Cambridge

Loughborough Students came from behind to secure a bonus-point victory in a pulsating encounter with Cambridge in the Midlands.

Tries from George Furbank, Ean Griffiths and Mike Ayrton came before the break for Cambridge with Yiannis Loizias (2) and Sam Pointon replying to reduce the visitors’ lead to 22-19.

Loughborough then dominated the second-half as Pointon grabbed his second try of the afternoon before Kehinde Olowofela and Isaac Miller both crossed to put the hosts in control of this contest.

Louis Rawling dotted down for Cambridge to secure the away side a bonus point on 69 minutes, but Loughborough had the final say as they slotted over a late penalty to continue their excellent recent home form.

Esher 42-29 Fylde

Esher secured their first win in five matches as they beat fellow struggles Fylde at Moseley Road.

Tom Chessman got the opening try before Charlie Gossington, Andy Garner and Joe Beckett all crossed for the hosts.

Fylde gave themselves a lifeline just before half-time as Matt Rogerson smashed his way over to add to Greg Smith’s earlier penalty to make it 28-10 at the break.

Esher extended their advantage after the interval as Garner touched down for his second try of the day, but Fylde were then given a route back into this encounter as Beckett was yellow-carded.

Paul Arnold’s men took full advantage of this as Sam Bedlow and David Fairbrother both went over to reduce Esher’s lead to just six points.

But that was all Fylde could muster up as Esher had the last laugh as Tom James wrapped up the win for the hosts with their sixth try of the afternoon.

Macclesfield 7-15 Blaydon

Blaydon clinched their first away win of the season as they fought back to beat relegation rivals Macclesfield at Priory Park.

The win for the north-east side still leaves them with a 12 point deficit to overturn, but there is now a chance that they can pull off a remarkable escape while this defeat for Macc leaves them 19 points adrift of safety.

The hosts began on the front foot and were ahead after just three minutes as Ryan Parkinson was driven over and the Cheshire side continued to dominate proceedings.

However, against the run of play Blaydon responded as Brett Connon slotted over a penalty to keep the visitors in touch with Macc.

Macclesfield had Dave Marwick sin-binned before the first period was up and it got worse for the Blues as Niall Davison was sent-off shortly after half-time for a dangerous clear-out.

Blaydon immediately capitalised on this as Andrew Foster dived over from close range before Keith Laughlin took a pass at pace to dart over and ultimately seal an important win for the north-east club.