National Two South lead changes hands once again

Fourteen games in and nothing to separate them other than points difference. Cambridge and Old Albanian continue to achieve maximum points and this weekend it was Cambridge’s turn to take charge of National Two South as we approach the end of 2015.

What is clear is that the top two sides are now starting to pull away from the rest of the field and that was aided by Taunton’s defeat to Worthing Raiders.

Elsewhere, Bishops Stortford, Clifton and Bury St Edmunds were the other sides to triumph in the top half while Barnes and Chinnor claimed vital victories.

Southend Saxons 11-33 Cambridge

Cambridge returned to the top of the table after this victory over Southend at Warners Bridge Park.

Tries from Gerhard Boshoff and Alex Moon gave the away side a 6-12 half-time lead with Bradley Burr nudging over two penalties for the hosts.

Southend looked set to launch a comeback after a positive opening to the second half, but when Bevans-Royston was yellow carded, Cambridge ended any hope of a fightback as they touched down immediately after the dismissal.

The home side did respond though as Harry Hudson stormed over in the corner to make it 11-19, but two further tries, one from Steve Hipwell, sealed the bonus point win for Cambridge as they took top spot off the Old Albanian once again.

Old Elthamians 17-25 Old Albanian

Lewis Allan’s 70^th minute try secured a dramatic win for the Old Albanian over the Old Elthamians as they are now only behind Cambridge on points difference at the summit of National Two South.

With the OE’s looking to defend their unbeaten record at home, tries from Lee Nelmes and Jamie Cullen looked enough for them to keep up their impressive form on home soil with Nicolas Foster, Matt Miles and Jimmy Spiers all crossing for the OA’s.

The score was level at 17-17 and with both sides throwing caution to the wind, it was the visitors who found that final clinical edge as Allan’s score in the corner was enough after Max Malins had landed a penalty just before the hour mark for the OA’s.

Cambridge and the Old Albanian are now separated by a points difference of nine heading into the final weekend before the Christmas break.

Worthing Raiders 27-23 Taunton Titians

Taunton Titians lost ground in the title race as they suffered just their third defeat of the season as they were edged out by a rejuvenated Worthing Raiders.

Taunton led at the interval through tries from Freddie Fraser and Jake Woolmore, but a try from Sam Aspland-Robinson and two penalties from the boot of Matthew McLean kept Worthing in touch despite them being down to 13 men at one point during the first half.

The lead exchanged hands after the break as McLean landed his third penalty of the day before Gary Kingdom expertly knocked over a drop goal to make it 17-18.

But it was the Raiders who took the initiative as Aspland-Robinson crossed again before McLean took his tally to five penalties for the afternoon to increase their lead to 27-18.

Replacement Dan Frost crossed for Taunton with a minute remaining to secure a bonus point, but it will certainly feel like points dropped for Taunton who are now eight points off the leaders.

Redingensians 15-27 Bishops Stortford

A red card to the Redingensians’ Andrew Amour helped Bishops Stortford to victory at Old Bath Road and stretches their unbeaten run to four matches.

Oliver Poole scored an early try for the Redingensians before Amour received a yellow card for a breakdown offence.

Stortford weren’t to be denied as Tom Croizer crossed over, but it was the home side that led 10-7 at the break after their second try came from a rolling maul.

Dan Morris gave Stortford the lead straight after the restart with their second try of the afternoon before Amour was sent off for a stamp well away from the ball and the onus was now on the away side to take advantage.

But that plan failed dramatically to begin with as the Redingensians scored a breakaway try from all of 80 metres to get back into the contest.

That was as good as it got for the Rams as Stortford capitalised properly on their extra man advantage as Richard Gill scored a brace with Morris also adding his second to secure the win for Stortford.

Barnes 36-31 Redruth

Barnes claimed their first win in four matches with victory over Redruth in South West London.

Tries from John Collins, Marc Popham, Tom O’Toole and Fraser Carlisle gave Barnes a 14 point half-time lead with Rob Coote and Sam Parsons going over for the Reds.

Ben Priddey’s early try in the second half kept Redruth in touch, but Matthew Cornish reinstated Barnes’ lead after a clever chip kick began the move.

More tries followed as Ashley Lawton dotted down for the away side, but once again Barnes hit back as Carlisle crossed for his second.

But it was Redruth who had the final say as they secured two points as Coote snuck over once again to end this enthralling contest.

Clifton 46-31 Canterbury

Clifton halted their slide down the National Two South table as they picked up victory at home to a Canterbury side that showed much more fight this week.

Tries from Will Pomphrey, Callum Roberts and Elias Craven gave the hosts a 22-9 lead at half-time with three first of penalties coming from Guy Hilton for Canterbury.

James Mackay extended Clifton’s lead after the break as he slotted over three points and soon after he wrapped up the bonus point for his side with a try which he converted.

This seemed to spark Canterbury into life as they mounted a comeback shortly after Mackay’s try. Firstly, George Micans barged his over before Mason Rosvall came off the bench to dot down twice to bring the City Men right back into the contest.

But all their hard work was undone when a lapse in defence allowed Mike Uren to score, but it was the away side that rounded off the scoring as Rosvall completed his hat-trick.

Bury St Edmunds 17-13 Dorking

Bury St Edmunds picked up their first win in three matches with victory against Dorking thanks to a late try from Matt Hema.

The scores were level at the break with Bury responding to George Jackson’s try and Matthew Noble’s penalty for Dorking with all 10 of their points coming from Scott Lyle.

Bury pressed after the break as they dominated territory but as the game grew older, Dorking sensed they could snatch the lead and seven minutes from time they did just that as Jackson coolly slotted over a drop goal.

But then came a moment of magic from Bury’s Will Affleck which enabled them to come away with the points.

After a break from Matt Eddison, the ball found its way to Affleck but it landed at his feet. The chance looked lost, but he somehow caught the ball and flicked it to Hema who darted into the corner to seal the victory.

Launceston 10-21 Chinnor

Chinnor are now out of the bottom three after securing their third win on the spin away at bottom club Launceston.

The away side led 5-16 at the break thanks to a penalty from John Hopkins and tries from Marcus Beer and Joe Vandermolen with Jacob Childs scoring for the hosts.

Launceston were very much still in the game and their chances of a comeback increased when Vandermolen and then Tom Burns both received yellow cards for Chinnor.

Launceston did respond to this as Benjamin Hilton crossed, but Chinnor managed to hold out until their two players returned to the action and that immediately put pressure on the home side with Beer scoring his second of the day to wrap up the win.

Launceston remain winless after 14 matches and are now 18 points from safety while Chinnor are out of the relegation zone for the first time this season.