New look Coventry off to a flyer

Four months on from Richmond sealing the title and a place in the Championship, National One has returned and it is back with a bang as 16 teams fight it out for glory this season.

Last year, Hartpury College and Ampthill & District were two of the sides that challenged Richmond for promotion during the season and both sides got off to winning starts in the new campaign.

Coventry are the early leaders in this division as a new look team under Director of Rugby Rowland Winter performed superbly as they blew Loughborough Students away.

Elsewhere, Plymouth Albion and Esher both got off the mark with victories while Hull Ionians started positively and newly promoted Old Albanian began with a solid away win at Blaydon.

Also, Birmingham Moseley started life in National One with a hard-fought victory over Fylde following relegation from the Championship last term.

Coventry 54-12 Loughborough Students

Rowland Winter’s reign as Director of Rugby at Coventry got off to a winning start as he saw his side run in eight tries to beat Loughborough Students.

Two scores from Jimmy Litchfield plus tries from James Pricthard, Max Trimble and Eoghan Grace and 10 points from the boot of Tony Fenner opened up a commanding lead before second half scores from Trimble, Corey Hicock and James Stokes punished a Loughborough side that were completely outclassed by a new look Coventry outfit.

Rotimi Segun and Harry Nuttall scored the consolation tries for Students, with Josh Sharp kicking two conversions.

Hartpury College 34-0 Blackheath

Hartpury College seem to have forgotten about the disappointment of missing out on promotion last season after a convincing victory over Blackheath to begin the new campaign.

College finished second last term behind Richmond, but have once again highlighted their title credentials with this win.

A Penalty Try as well as scores from Will Tanner and Jonas Mikalcius helped Hartpury into a 24-0 half-time lead with the highly rate Adam Hastings kicking nine points.

The Bath and Scotland U20 international couldn’t add to his tally after the break, but would’ve been delighted to see Mike Wilcox and Zac Mercer both go over to put the icing on the cake for College.

Blaydon 3-35 Old Albanian

The Old Albanian announced their return to National One in style as they collected a bonus-point win from their away fixture with Blaydon.

The OA’s suffered relegation from this division two seasons ago, but this was exactly what James Shannahan and his side would have wanted to kick-off their new campaign.

The visitors led 10-0 thanks to a Harry Bate try and five points via the boot of Chris May after a very controlled first half performance.

The Old Albanian pulled clear after the break with Bate, Ali Crossdale and Billy Johnson all crossing for the bonus point while May took his personal total to 15 points for the afternoon.

Ampthill and District 24-15 Rosslyn Park

Ampthill and District began their second season in National One with a strong win at home to Rosslyn Park.

After Adam Bellamy’s early try put Park ahead, Gavin Williams’ score and five points kicked by the ever dependable Joe Tarrant put the hosts 10-7 up at half-time.

A brace of penalties from Tarrant and one from Steffan Jones put Ampthill in control, but Rosslyn Park weren’t giving up as Harry Leonard added three points of his own to make it 19-10.

The A’s were then reduced to 13 men and Rosslyn Park upped the pressure, but couldn’t dent the amber and maroon wall in front of them. Eventually they did find a gap as Charlie Piper snuck over, but Ampthill held out for victory after a solid defensive display.

Hull Ionians 16-10 Darlington Mowden Park

Hull Ionians had to come from behind to earn a victory over Darlington Mowden Park to begin the new National One season.

Zack Poole’s try along with a penalty from Issac Green and brilliant drop goal from Lee Millar was enough for the I’s to start the campaign with a victory after such as tough term last year.

Earlier, the hosts had trailed at half-time despite dominating possession. Santiago Socino’s try gave DMP a 7-3 lead at the break, but they could only manage another three points as Caolan Ryan knocked over a penalty late on.

Fylde 20-25 Birmingham Moseley

After relegation from the Championship, Birmigham Moseley began life in National One with a narrow victory over valiant Fylde side at Woodlands.

Birmingham Moseley dominated the first quarter with tries from Jack Preece and Chris Brightwell with Elliot Bale converting both.

But Fylde stormed back through a Scott Rawlings penalty and a score from Chris Briers before Bale made it 17-10 to the visitors at the break.

Briers’ second try of the afternoon reduced Moseley’s lead to just two points, before the hosts went ahead thanks to a Jordan Dorrington try on the hour.

The turning point in this contest was when Matt Turvey was sin-binned for Fylde and Moseley took full advantage of their extra man as Adam Caves touched down which Bale converted.

The former Plymouth man then made no mistake from the tee in the last minute as he sealed the win for the Midlands side with another three points.

Plymouth Albion 23-18 Cambridge

Plymouth Albion were pushed hard by newly promoted Cambridge but they were able to record their first win of the season on the opening day of the new campaign.

Albion led 11-10 at the break, Jamie Salter going over for a try with Jamie Shepard kicking two penalties while Cambridge’s points came via a Penalty Try and a Jack Green nudge.

Herbie Stupple and Michael Ayrton swapped tries in the third quarter before Green slotted a superb drop goal to edge Cambridge ahead.

However, Tom Cowen-Dickie barged his way over to put Albion back in front and ultimately clinch the win for his side.

Esher 21-19 Macclesfield

Macclesfield’s return to National One ended in a narrow defeat as a late Paul Roberts penalty gave Esher an opening home victory.

Giles Heagerty’s side, who were relegated from this division two seasons ago, got off to a difficult start as Calum Waters and Charlie Gossington tries put Esher 15-0 up.

However, Macc were only three points behind at the break thanks to scores from Rhodri Mayor and Sam Moss.

Roberts extend Esher’s lead after the restart with his second penalty of the afternoon, but Matthew King crossed as Macclesfield took the lead for the first time in this match.

Macc were able to keep hold of the lead right up until the final five minutes of this contest before Roberts’ third penalty won it for the London based club.