National Two South - No change from 14

Henley continue their charge with Dorking still hunting them down, Taunton lose ground and the Cornish All Blacks continue their surge up the table after Round 14 of the National League Two Division South.

Henley Hawks secured their 14th straight victory of the season as they ran in ten tries against Dings Crusaders to win 58-10. Having scored nine tries last weekend against Shelford, the Hawks were in the same relentless mood, but did start slowly conceding an early try. However from there, they went through the gears and sent out another clear message to the rest of the division that Henley are determined to win this league and perhaps go unbeaten. They maintain their 100 per cent start to the season and as for Dings, this defeat ended a two game winning run and they remain in 15th position.

Second placed Dorking were pushed all the way by bottom side Shelford on Saturday, but came out on top as they won 28-20. This arguably was the best performance Shelford have put in this season. The visitors matched Dorking for large periods of the game and this encounter was nip and tuck for the full 80 minutes, but the hosts claimed the victory and in doing so stretched their winning streak to 13 matches. They are now six points behind Henley. In terms of Shelford, they stay a point behind Dings and have only won one of their last nine matches, but will certainly take a lot of positives from this defeat and even Dorking’s Director of Rugby stated that Shelford were the toughest side to play Dorking this season.

Taunton have found it extremely difficult to string a number of wins together in recent weeks and their top two aspirations are starting to fade away fast as they suffered another defeat on Saturday. They were beaten by Southend Saxons 18-8 which was their fourth defeat in five matches. As for Southend, this was an unlikely victory for the side and it looked like the odds were stacked against them for the majority of the match when they were shown three yellow cards. But despite this, they came away with their sixth victory of the season and after suffering a five point deduction, now sit in 13th positon in the table and 10 points outside the top half. Taunton’s sticky spell continues and now find themselves 13 points behind Dorking and just three points clear of the top four.

Bishop’s Stortford took advantage of another Taunton slip up as they comfortably beat Lydney 24-43 to claim their fourth away win of the season. The side currently occupying the last spot in the top four produced a storming first half performance, despite being hit by injuries. They were superior in all areas of the game and the score line could easily have been more. Their team bus broke down on the way back from Gloucestershire, but that won’t have dampened their spirits as they now sit level on points with Taunton. In terms of Lydney, they lie in 14th place with just two wins their last seven games.

A Jack Hayes hat-trick helped Chinnor on their way to a 33-12 victory over Redruth at Kingsey Road on Saturday. All three of his tries were interceptions which was impressive from the centre and it was an impressive display all round by Chinnor. The hosts put Redruth on the back foot in the first half and control proceedings, but struggled turn their dominance into points and Redruth nearly punished them in the second half but squandered golden opportunities. Chinnor stay fifth with this win and are three points outside the top four. As for Redruth, they have now lost their last three matches and have slipped down to 11th in the table having only won once on the road all season.

Worthing Raiders got back to winning ways with a 34-40 win over eighth placed Clifton on Saturday. As the score suggests, this was a fairly even contest. Clifton took advantage of some poor errors from the home side for a twenty minute spell in the first half, but the hosts regained their composure, changed a few things around and secured the victory. Worthing stay sixth with just one defeat in their last four and Clifton remain mid-table and continue their inconsistent from. We at TRU eagerly await the return of RedPanda7s Ben Loosmore.

Old Elthamians’ away trip to Cambridge was also a tightly contested affair, but it was the penalty count and a last minute try from Austin Beckett that made the difference in the end as Cambridge won 39-33 at Grantchester Road. It was a well-balanced match and two bonus points were gained from this defeat for the Old E’s but, it could have been more if they hadn’t given away two penalties in kicking range. Cambridge may well have seen the game off inside the first-half, but once again were embroiled in another battle, but sealed a vital victory. Old E’s are seventh and have only won once in their last seven games. This win for Cambridge ended a two game losing run.
Coaches View
Cambridge Coach Craig Newby:  “We’re getting good at making a game of things. We should have scored three or four more in the first half and put the result beyond doubt. Having said that, last week’s loss was really hard to take, and we’ve showed real character to bounce back and play the way we did today”.

Other than the top two in this division the Cornish All Blacks (Launceston) are most certainly the form side in the division and have now won their last three matches after beating Canterbury 25-15. The visitors are still yet to win away from home this season and this defeat edged them closer to the relegation zone. They missed opportunities during the afternoon whilst the All Blacks capitalised on Canterbury mistakes.  Canterbury are 12th with the Cornish All Blacks now in 10th after a brilliant last few weeks for the Cornwall outfit.