National Two South: Taunton move top as Old Albanian are held by Southend

Three teams entered Week Three of National Two South all on level points at the top of the division. However, after this round of fixtures, Taunton are now out there all by themselves and lead the way. Old Albanian were held to a draw against Southend, Redruth just keep on winning while Canterbury moved into the top three.

Elsewhere, Dorking put in an excellent display to end Bishop’s Stortford’s 100 per cent start and Clifton lost their first game of the season to Cambridge. 

Here is a round-up of all the action from National Two South.

Launceston 12-38 Taunton

Taunton now have a one point lead at the top of the table as they picked up maximum points away at Launceston.

The Titians dominated the game, but Launceston showed glimpses of what they are capable of in the second half after scoring two well worked tries.

The visitors began like an express train as scores from Aron Struminski, Gary Kingdom, Jake Woolmare and Barrie John-Chapman gave them a 0-26 lead at half-time.

Launceston played better in the second half – even though they had Ben Hilton and Luke Chapman in the bin at one stage.

Taunton were awarded a penalty try to make it 0-33 but the build-up play for Jonathon Dawe’s try for Launceston was brilliant.

Shortly after, Woolmare scored his second and Taunton’s fifth try, before Eddie McGinley touched down for Launceston to complete the scoring at Polson Bridge.

Bury St Edmunds 22-23 Redruth

Redruth just about held on to their 100 per cent record for the season as they edged out Bury St Edmunds on their travels.

Bury’s Christopher Lord had the chance to clinch their second win of the season with a penalty from 45 meters in the latter stages of the game, but pulled it just wide.

His side were the better team in the first-half as Matt Hemea scored a brilliant try as he cut through the Redruth defence from the blindside, before Lord added the second for the hosts.

Murray Westren and Ashley Hosking kicked two penalties for the Reds, but the home side led at the break.

Lord then made it 15-6 after the restart, but the visitors kicked on and two tries from Richard Brown and Brett Rule gave their side the lead.

Hosking made it 15-23 but a second converted try from Hemea with 10 minutes to go made for a nervy finish for the Reds.

However, despite Bury trying to turn the screw and having that penalty opportunity, Redruth held on for their third win.

Redingensians 6-20 Canterbury

After an 11^th placed finish last campaign, Canterbury have got off to a flyer this season and made it three wins from three away at the Redingesians, who are still without any points to their name.

It wasn’t a polished performance from Canterbury who could well have been punished against different opposition.  In the end, they claimed the four points as a double from Mason Rosvall was enough to see the City men go third in the table.

Guy Swaling kicked all six of the home sides points and they did lead at half-time despite a try from Canterbury’s Sean Nixon.

The game’s key moments came in six second half minutes as Rosvall scored twice which allowed Canterbury to start dictating the game.

The target seemed to be a bonus-point try for Canterbury but even though Daniel Barnes and Harry Stapleton were sin-binned for the Redingensians, Canterbury couldn’t find that final clinical edge.

Southend 29-29 Old Albanian

Old Albanian entered this weekend as league leaders, put came away from Southend frustrated as the hosts claimed a valuable three points.  

It was a game which was in the balance throughout the second half but it was the home side that battled to a half-time lead after starving the OA’s of possession and territory.

A score from Christopher Vaughan, a penalty try and three points from the tee slotted over by Bradley Burr, gave the Saxons a 17-5 advantage at the break. James Hearn dotted down after a surging break down the right for the OA’s.

Nicolas Stevens was sin-binned for the Old Albanian just before half-time, but it was Stevens himself who kick-started a fight back for the visitors.

It was now the OA’s turn to dominant possession and inside 20 second half minutes they were 17-29 ahead. Stevens got the first try before, William Johnson and James Shanahan secured the OA’s a bonus point.

The away side were looked set to stay top of National Two North., but Southend had other ideas. Their comeback began nine minutes from time as Daniel Clare avoid a last ditch tackle to squeeze in in the corner. Burr’s conversion sailed just wide.

Then came a moment of brilliance from Sonny Gay. Burr poked through a grubber kick and it looked like it was heading over the dead ball line, but Gay showed a superb turn of pace to reach the ball and touch down before the line. Burr then held his nerve and sealed a draw for the home side.

The OA’s have now won just one of the last five games between the sides.

Cambridge 44-20 Chinnor

As I mentioned in this week’s preview, Cambridge are certainly a side that just keeps on improving. This was a commanding victory against Chinnor and if they keep playing like they are, they are sure to better their seventh place finish of last season by a comfortable margin.

This was their 14^th home triumph in their last 17 matches at Volac Park and it was an Albert Portsmouth double which helped them on their way to this particular win.

Jonathan Hopkin opened the scoring for Chinnor with a penalty, but moments later they were behind as Brett Daynes went over after a cross-field kick from Gerhard Boshoff.

The game swung back in the favour of Chinnor as Jack Olley touched down after an initial break from scrum-half Gregg Goodfellow to make it 10-7.

It was then Cambridge’s turn to take the initiative and carried in a19-10 lead at the break thanks to Portsmouth’s first try and a score from Ean Griffiths.

After half-time, Mark Darlington was sin-binned for the visitors and the ‘blood and sand’ took full advantage of that as Steve Hipwell crossed for a try bonus point to make it 26-10.

Olley then got his second for Chinnor showing great pace and power and his try was converted by Hopkin. The full-back then nudged over a penalty to put the away side just six points behind Cambridge.

But Portsmouth ran an intelligent line to get his second try and settle the Cambridge nerves and James Stokes put the game beyond Chinnor with a penalty and then converted his own try to complete the 44-20 victory.

Chinnor have now lost all three of their matches and their sixth place finish of last season maybe starting to feel like a distant memory.

Dorking 24-17 Bishop’s Stortford

This win for Dorking was much needed. After a torrid start to 2015, which saw them lose out on a National Two play-off place to Bishop’s Stortford, they began this season with two straight defeats.

However, they bounced back with this crucial victory and it will do this Dorking side the world of good on so many levels.

Stortford weren’t at the races on Saturday afternoon, but take nothing away from this Dorking performance.

The hosts were behind on the half an hour mark as Sam Winter finished off a brilliant move to give Stortford an early 0-7 lead.

Dorking hit back with a try from Benji Marfo, but a Michael Gallagher penalty put the visitor’s five points ahead.

However, Dorking ended the half the stronger as Cameron Pimlow punished some poor defending from Stortford to touch down for a try which he converted.

After the interval, Dorking continued in the same manner and scored a sensational try.

The move began with Captain Armand Roux who showed great hands to find Marfo who darted down the right before coming inside and evading numerous tackles to score.

Pimlow converted and then got his second try of the match after good set-piece play by the hosts to make the score 24-10.

Stortford were then given a glimmer of hope nine minutes from the end as they were awarded a penalty try before Tom McCrone was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle.

However, Dorking held on with 14 men to see out the win.

Barnes 27-35 Worthing

Worthing made it two wins from their opening three matches with an away victory at Barnes. The hosts are still yet to win this season and may have felt disappointed that they didn’t pick up a losing bonus point.

The game belonged to Worthing’s Alex Nielsen who scored a hat-trick with two of the tries coming in the first half.

Barnes had led 6-3 thanks to two penalties from Tom O’Toole with Worthing’s points coming via the boot of Sean O’Hagan before Nielsen dotted down twice in quick succession.

O’Toole then kicked his third penalty of the day and when Jamie Collins crossed the whitewash for Barnes, the score was 14-15 just before the half hour mark.

O’Hagan made sure that Worthing had some breathing space at half-time as he touched down and then added a penalty just after the break.

Barnes then responded and once again reduced the gap to just a point as Fraser Carlisle scored and O’Toole slotted home another penalty.

Kieran Leeming went over for Worthing’s fourth try and Nielsen then touched down his third, which was converted as the Raiders moved 35-22 ahead.

Barnes then went over for an unconverted try to make the score 35-27 but couldn’t fashion a final opportunity to seal a bonus point.

Old Elthamians 45-25 Clifton

The Old Elthamians secured their first win of the National Two South season as they beat Clifton by a 20 point margin. This win also halted a run of just two victories in 11 matches for the OE’s and ended Clifton’s unbeaten start to the campaign.

The OE’s had a commanding 32-8 lead at half-time thanks to tries from Charles Edwards, Jonathan Williams, Craig Dowsett and  Kristain Cook while full-back Thomas White kicked 12 points.

Clifton’s points came from Bradley Barnes and a try from Jordan Kelly.

Clifton were much brighter in the second-half as Michael Uren scored a well-worked try. White knocked over another penalty for the OE’s before Fergus Manners and Elias Caven both crossed for the visitors and now they were only 10 points behind with 11 minutes remaining.

However, Dowsett made sure of the win for the OE’s with his second try of the game five minutes from time. White then nudged over his sixth penalty to seal the 45-25 win before being sin-binned for striking an opponent.