Old Albanian go clear at the top after Cambridge fall to defeat

We finally have a clear leader in National Two South as the Old Albanian moved to the summit of this division after only one game of 2016.

Cambridge are no longer level with the Old Albanian and have been knocked off top spot after their defeat to Bishops Stortford.

Like Cambridge, Taunton Titans also lost ground in the title race as they suffered another loss while Redruth, the Old Elthamians and Dorking all began 2016 with wins.

Into the bottom half, Barnes and Bury St Edmunds both picked up victories while the sides fighting for survival failed to profit from each other’s defeats.

Redingensians 21-31 Old Albanian

The Old Albanian went clear at the top of National Two South for the first this season after victory over a spirited Redingensians side.

Karl Garside powered his way over to give the OA’s an early lead at Old Bath Road before Joseph Duffelen and George Drury both crossed to give the hosts a 14-7 advantage after just nine minutes.

But it was the visitors that led at half-time as Matthew Gallagher and Harry Bate both went over.

Bate added his second try four minutes after the restart to secure the bonus point for the OA’s before Oliver Cooper-Millar took the game away from the Redingensians with his try on 50 minutes.

The Rams weren’t giving up though as they reduced the OA’s lead to 10 points just after the hour mark as Samir Kharbouch dotted down, but the home side just couldn’t close the gap any further as the Old Albanian sealed their 14^th win of the season.

Cambridge 12-29 Bishops Stortford

Cambridge suffered only their second defeat of the season as Bishops Stortford ended their 100 per cent record at Volac Park.

The away side went ahead thanks to tries from Nicholas Hankin and Baxter Wilson and a score from Cambridge’s Michael Ayrton in between, made it 5-12 at the break.

Centre George Cullen dived over to extend Stortford’s lead three minutes into the second half.

The visitors stretched their advantage further as Thomas Banks darted over before Cambridge’s Stefan Liebenburg reduced the gap to 12 points once again.

But it was Rory Young who rounded off proceedings with a try for Stortford to make it four straight wins for his side as they move up to third in the table. As for Cambridge, they are now five points behind the Old Albanian.

Barnes 20-15 Taunton Titans

Taunton Titans are now eight points off the play-off place after falling to their second defeat in three matches as they were beaten by Barnes.

The home side were actually behind at half-time as a try from Brett Harvey and a Penalty Try along with five points from the boot of Toby East gave Taunton a 3-15 lead with Gareth Williams Davies claiming the three points for Barnes.

After the break, it was a completely different story as Barnes ran in 17 unanswered points to turn the game around.

Davies added a try to his first half penalty just two minutes into the second period before Tom O’Toole landed a penalty for the home side to put them within two points of Taunton.

And eight minutes later Barnes were ahead for the first time in the game as Jack Franklin crossed and that proved to be the final score of the match.

Barnes are now 10^th in the table after their sixth win of the campaign and more importantly for them, they are eight points clear of the relegation zone.

Southend Saxons 10-21 Redruth

Redruth made it five wins in their last six league matches after beating Southend Saxons at Warners Bridge Park.

The Reds were behind at the break as a Chris Vaughan try and a Bradley Burr penalty cancelled out Kyle Marriot’s early try as the Saxons led 10-7.

However, Redruth upped the pace after half-time and Marriott’s second try of the day put them back in front with David Mankee kicking the conversion.

Ill-discipline then creeped into Southend’s game as Ashton Bevans-Royston and Kristian Chesney were both yellow carded a minute apart which hampered the home sides chances of getting back into the game.

Thomas Cowen-Dickie took full advantage in their absence as Redruth sealed victory to continue their good recent form.

Dorking 31-29 Clifton

Adam Worth’s late try secured back to back wins for Dorking as they overcame Clifton in an enthralling game.

Matthew Noble, Kayrim Irvine and Ryan Jeffrey’s tries put Dorking in control with Michael Uren and Alfie Tooala Vaeluaga responding for Clifton before half-time.

Ellis Craven crossed for the away side on 49 minutes before Max Woodward’s try put Clifton in front despite them being down to 14 men.

Worth then levelled the game up at 26-26 with his first try of the day on 74 minutes before Bradley Barnes restored Clifton’s lead.

But Worth’s second try late on sealed Dorking’s seventh win of the season as they moved into the top half with this win while Clifton stay sixth despite having won just one of their last six matches.

Old Elthamians 19-13 Worthing Raiders

Thomas White kicked 14 points as the Old Elthamians began the New Year with their first win in three matches as they beat Worthing Raiders.

The only tries of the game came in the first half when the OE’s’ James Golledge went over after five minutes before Daniel Sargent smashed his way over for Worthing.

After converting Golledge’s try, White kicked his first penalty of the game while Worthing’s Matthew McLean matched him just before half-time to make it 10-10 at the break.

But White was destructive from the tee in the second period as he nailed three more penalties without reply with McLean only managing to land one more penalty10 minutes from time.

The OE’s remain seventh after this win, while Worthing are now three points clear of the relegation zone after picking up a losing bonus point.

Bury St Edmunds 24-20 Chinnor

A late Penalty Try secured victory for Bury St Edmunds against Chinnor as they came from 17 points down to clinch their seventh win of the campaign.

Two tries from Oscar Heath and a score from Andrew Berry gave Chinnor a 3-20 lead at half-time with Bury’s points coming from the boot of Scott Lyle.

After the break, the game was turned on its head as William Affleck and Sean Stapleton both crossed to reduced Chinnor’s lead to just three points with a quarter of the game to go.

From there, Bury continued to press and were eventually rewarded for an excellent second half display when they were given a Penalty Try three minutes from time to complete their comeback.

Launceston v Canterbury was postponed.