National Two South Review: Round 10

Henley Hawk’s James Comben returned from injury to help kick his side to their tenth victory of the season and kept their 100 per cent record intact.  The Hawks beat third placed Tauton 15-10 on Saturday after being 6-10 down at the break.The positive for Taunton is that they did pick up a bonus point and that is a sign of just how well they performed in this highly entertaining game of rugby.  Taunton Coach Tony Yapp said “To come to Henley and be disappointed to be only coming away with one point is testament to the effort the players put in today. The players kept to the game plan and applied it throughout and on another day the result could have gone our way.” Tauton stay third and are now nine points behind Henley.

Squeezed in between those two sides is Dorking who have reduced the gap to five points at the top of the table as they beat Canterbury 46-19. After three decent performances from the visitors in the last few weeks, they were outclassed by the hosts who have still only lost once all season. Canterbury now lie in 15th position in the table.

Bishop’s Stortford continued their good recent form as they came away from Dings Crusaders with a 8-34 win. Like across the world of rugby, all teams had a minute silence before the game to remember those who have lost their lives at war and at Dings Crusaders their poppy centenary event was “tremendous.”  In terms of the game, the hosts did get the first points on the board, but Bishop’s Stortford showed why they have been one of the top sides in this division so far this season and controlled the game to secure their sixth win of the season.

Fifth placed Chinnor edged out sixth placed Old Elthamians 25-22 in Thame to move six points clear of their opponents. Across the country the weather did play a factor, but Chinnor matched it and left it to the final play of the game to snatch the win as Ed Keohane slotted over a penalty.  This was a much better performance from the Old Elthamians, but once again in a game involving them it was decided by the final kick of the game. Gavin Lach, Old Elthamians director of rugby said: ‘We came away with a point, it should have been two and could have been four or five. But the heart was back into that performance after previous two very-below par ones!”

Redruth have now only won two of their last eight games as they went down to an outstanding Shelford 31-11 and that was the first time they haven’t picked up any points this season.  As for Shelford, this was their first win in five games which saw them leapofrog Canterbury into 14th in the division.

Another ‘shock’ result in terms of league position was in Cornwall as the Cornish All Blacks picked up their first win in six as they beat eight placed Worthing Raiders 29-19. The Raiders had to make the 402 mile round journey, but this was arguably the All Blacks’ best performance of the season. A frustrating afternoon all round for Worthing.

Cambridge added to their victory against Lydney last weekend as they continue to advance up the table after a 20-36 win at Southend Saxons.  The Saxons have been hit by injuries this season and were hoping to move into the top half of the league, but Cambridge had other ideas. Southend lie 11th in the table and this defeat ended a three game winning run.

Lydney v Clifton was postponed this weekend.