National Two South: No mistakes made at the top

National Two South remains extremely tight at the top after Cambridge, Taunton and the Old Albanian were all victorious this weekend.

After nine rounds of fixtures, it is hard to separate the top three sides in the division while Bishops Stortford, the Old Elthamians and Redruth continue to view the battle from slightly further back.

Elsewhere, Southend and Redingsensians both picked up excellent wins on Saturday.

Cambridge 38-3 Clifton

Cambridge remain at the top of National Two South after an impressive home victory against fourth placed Clifton.

Albert Portsmouth, Steve Hipwell and Lawrence Hutchinson all crossed in the first half for the home side, after Bradley Barnes had opened the scoring for the afternoon for Clifton.

Ian Clark was sin-binned on the stroke of half-time for Clifton and after the break, Cambridge capitalised as Hipwell touched down for his second of the afternoon to secure the bonus point for the hosts.

Full-back James Stokes made the score 31-3 on 57 minutes as he dotted down and even when Stefan Liebenberg and George Bretag-Norris were both yellow carded with five minutes to go, Clifton couldn’t improve their points total.

Instead, Portsmouth added his second try to round off another commanding performance at home by the league leaders.

Chinnor 23-25 Taunton Titans

Taunton Titans are still a point behind Cambridge, but were made to work hard for their eighth win of the season against a battling Chinnor.

The home side – who picked up their first win of the season two weeks ago against Canterbury – were 16-13 ahead at half-time in this encounter as fly-half William Millet nudged over 11 points with Marcus Beer touching down.

Taunton’s points came via tries from Duncan Hales and Jonathan Gatford with Gary Kingdom slotting over a penalty.

Barrie-John Chapman gave Taunton the lead just before the hour with a well worked try and when Tom Burns was sin-binned for Chinnor, the visitors punished them further.

Replacement George Cooper barged his way over to make it 16-25 to Taunton with 13 minutes to go, but Alaifatu Fatialofa set up a grandstand finish when he dived over for Chinnor nine minutes from time.

However, Taunton held on to a secure a crucial away win to stay in touch with Cambridge at the top.

Dorking 8-24 Old Albanian

Hunting the top two down every step of the way are the Old Albanian who put in a professional away performance to beat Dorking.

The job seemed to be done and dusted by half-time for the OA’s as tries from Max Malins, Matthew Gallagher and Jason Billows gave them a 5-17 advantage with Oliver Edwards coming off the bench to touch down for Dorking.

But, the OA’s comfortable lead looked to be under threat just nine minutes into the second half when scrum-half Morgan Thompson was shown a red-card.

However, the away side stayed solid and produced an excellent defensive display as they reduced Dorking to just a penalty which was knocked over by centre Matthew Noble.

And to add insult to injury, Malins crossed for his second on 63 minutes to secure the bonus point for the OA’s who remain just two points off the top.

Bishops Stortford 25-10 Worthing

Bishops Stortford made it four wins from four at home with their latest victory over a struggling Worthing side.

Two yellow cards shown to Samuel Herwick and Liam Perkins were punished by Stortford as they were awarded a Penalty Try and scored two further tries through Pierfrancesco Dotta and Declan Caufield during the absence of the two Worthing players.

Sean O’Hagan pinged over a drop goal for the away side, but Dotta landed a penalty to give Stortford a deserved 20-3 half-time lead.

It was the home sides turn to lose their discipline in the second 40 as James Apperley was the first player in the bin, but Worthing failed to take advantage of the extra man.

Instead, Dominic Morris sealed the bonus point for Stortford on 50 minutes as he touched down before team-mate Thomas McCrone was the next man to be shown a yellow card and this time Worthing capitalised.

They were awarded a Penalty Try on the hour mark and despite Wilson Baxter being the third player to be sin-binned for Stortford, they were able to see out another triumph at Silver Leys.

Bury St Edmunds 17-18 Old Elthamians

A late Thomas White penalty snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for the Old Elthamians away at Bury St Edmunds.

White’s boot had helped the OE’s into a 0-10 half-time lead as he kicked a penalty and a conversion after James Golledge had crossed for the visitors.

But back came Bury after the interval as Bradley Cook smashed his way over before Adam Marshall touched down to give their side a 12-10 lead just six minutes into the second half.

That lead lasted just three minutes though as OE’s winger Jonathan Webber dived over, but the away side could not extend their advantage when Matthew Edison was sin-binned on 58 minutes for Bury.

Then came the drama. 12 minutes from time, winger Chris Snelling found a gap to dot down for the home side and give them a 17-15 lead, but the pendulum swung back in the favour of the OE’s when Sean Stapleton was sin-binned on 74 minutes.

And with Bury down to 14 men, the OE’s battered the Bury defence and eventually won a penalty which White knocked over a minute from the end.

Redruth 25-10 Canterbury

Canterbury’s poor run of form continued on Saturday as Redruth condemned the City Men to their sixth straight defeat of the campaign.

Nielson Webber and Jack Maunder crossed in the first period to give the hosts a 10-0 half-time lead.

Canterbury’s Thomas Best and Redruth’s David Mankee exchanged penalties after the break, before James Green put the visitors’ right back into the contest on 60 minutes as he touched down.  

The next score would be crucial and it was the home side who claimed it as winger Lewis Vinnicombe crashed over on 71 minutes and any hopes Canterbury may have had of staging a comeback were dashed when Neil Wakefield was sent-off three minutes from time.

Redruth complete proceedings with a Penalty Try as they wrapped up their third home victory of the season.

Southend Saxons 23-6 Barnes

Southend ended Barnes’ four game winning streak as they claimed their fourth win of the season and their second triumph at Warners Bridge Park.

The Seasiders took a narrow 7-6 advantage into the second 40 as Ashton Bevans-Royston scored the only try of the first half with Tom O’Toole knocking over two penalties for Barnes.

That was as good as it got for Barnes as Samuel Fombo touched down five minutes after the restart before two penalties in six minutes from Bradley Burr gave Southend an 18-6 lead.

Flanker Harry Hudson crossed for the third try of the afternoon with 10 minutes remaining to complete the job for the Saxons who have improved vastly from last season.

Redingsensians 30-10 Launceston

Even though there has been just nine games so far this season, this win for the Redingsensians against Launceston could prove vital come the end of the campaign with both sides at the wrong end of the table.

The Redingsensians were 10-3 ahead at the break with Luke Flower going over for the hosts and James Brooks adding the other five points from the tee.

Fraser Honey landed the points for bottom side Launceston, but it was Brooks who continued to be accurate as he nudged over a further two penalties after the break.

Daniel Barnes and George Drury touched down in the final quarter of the game to put the match beyond Launceston, even though Issac Hydleman touched down for them in the final stages of this encounter. Launceston are still winless and already sit 11 points off safety in National Two South.