Taunton and Bishops Stortford deliver ruthless displays

This time last season, Taunton Titans sat top of National Two South after a perfect start to the campaign and 12 months on, they are at the summit again after a sensational performance in Round Two.

The Titans began the season with a win over the Redingensians, but their vicotry this weekend over Exmouth was a clinical display from the men from Hyde Park as they made it two bonus-point wins from two.

Bishops Stortford are level on points with Taunton after a professional performance against Bury St Edmunds while Chinnor, Redruth, Cinderford, the Old Elthamians and Worthing Raiders all remain unbeaten.

Elsewhere, the Redingensians were the only winless side before Round Two to get off the mark for the season on the weekend.

Taunton Titans 59-10 Exmouth

Hat-tricks from Aron Struminski and Gary Kingdom helped Taunton Titians to an impressive nine-try victory as they overpowered newly promoted Exmouth at Hyde Park.

The hosts were 28-0 up after 20 minutes with Struminski dotting down twice and Kingdom once with a Penalty Try securing the bonus point for the hosts.

Ben Hawley got Exmouth on the board with a try on 33 minutes, but Struminski then completed his hat-trick just before half-time to extend the Titans’ lead.

That sparked another flurry of tries for the hosts as Kingdom also scored a hat-trick while Arron Gibbs and Tom Popham both touched down in the second period.

Henry Goldson scored a consolation try for Exmouth, but this was a ruthless display by Taunton.

Bishops Stortford 36-7 Bury St Edmunds

Bishops Stortford made it back to back wins to begin the new National Two South season thanks to victory over Bury St Edmunds.

Chris Aldham put the hosts ahead early on at Silver Leys and his side extended their lead before half-time through Matt Tomlinson and a penalty via Tom Banks.

A yellow card to Bury’s Kai Griffiths allowed Stortford to build on their 17-0 advantage and they did just that as Seb Brownhill dived over on debut for the home side.

Banks then registered Stortford’s bonus point try after a fine solo effort before Bury opened their account for the afternoon as Michael Mellett touched down.

But, Sam Winter’s late converted try made sure of Stortford’s convincing win.

Henley Hawks 13-22 Chinnor

Tries from Tom Burns, Greg Goodfellow and Richard Thorpe helped Chinnor beat Henley Hawks at Dry Leas in this South Oxfordshire derby.

George Jackson’s early penalty saw Henley take a 3-0 lead but Burns’ touchdown for Chinnor plus scores from Goodfellow and Thorpe ended the opening period with the visitors 19-6 ahead.

Tom Hall’s score on 54 minutes put Henley right back into the contest, but a penalty from Jonathon Hopkin was enough to ensure a second consecutive win for Chinnor and their first victory over Henley for 52 years.

Redruth 48-12 Barnstaple

Redruth kicked off their season at The Recreation Ground with a comfortable win against newly promoted Barnstaple.

The Reds were ahead 34-0 at the interval with tries coming from, Jack Oulton, Tommy Phillips, Nielson Webber and Sam Parsons before a Penalty Try rounded off an impressive first half display.

Will Topps was yellow carded for Barnstaple before the break, but it was the visitors who scored the opening try of the second period as Winston James crashed over.

However a brace from replacement Alex Ducker sealed the victory for Redruth either side of a consolation score by Barum’s James Starkey.

Clifton 25-31 Cinderford

Cinderford made it two wins from two in National Two South thanks to this victory at Cribbs Causeway on Saturday.

Mike Uren and Charlie Bullimore gave the South Gloucestershire side an early lead, but Cinderford did respond as Aaron Ryan crossed.

Ian Clark and Andy Chesters went over for the home side to restore their advantage before the visitors hit back once again, this time through a George Bvuma score.

With Cinderford trailing heading into the second period, they delivered the perfect response just after the interval as James Tidswell bundled over before winger Ollie Whiting took advantage of a Clifton error to touch down.

Cinderford were now in the ascendency and the game looked all but over when Bvuma rounded off an excellent move for his second try of the game. However, it wasn’t a comfortable finish for the away side as Clifton battled hard to snatch as result as Clark scored his second, but Cinderford were able to cling on.

Canterbury 15-17 Old Elthamians

Four second half penalties from Tom White was enough to see the Old Elthamians come from behind to seal victory over Canterbury.

The City Men led 10-0 at the break thanks to a drop goal from Ollie Best and JJ Murray’s converted try.

However, a second half score from Dominic Lespierre and four penalties from the boot of White looked to have won it when they went 17-10 ahead heading into the closing stages.

But, they had to hold their breath right at the death as Kieran Thompson capitalised on an OE’s yellow card to cut the deficit to two points, but the conversion sailed wide of the posts to the relief of the away side who made it back to back wins to begin this season.

Worthing Raiders 20-17 Barnes

Worthing Raiders got their National 2 South home campaign underway with a hard-fought 20-17 victory over 14-man Barnes.

Alex Wilcockson scored Worthing’s first home try of the season on 10 minutes, with a Matt McLean score helping put the Raiders 12-3 up at the break.

But the key moment in this contest came seven minutes before half-time as Alastair Johnston was shown a red card for an off-the-ground challenge on Dan Peach.

Despite Barnes being down to 14 men, they scored the first try of the second half as Ciaran Smyth powered his way over to potentially mount a comeback from the visitors.

McLean landed a penalty to stretch the lead to five points for the Raiders, but against all the odds, Barnes were in front on the hour as Jack Franklin sniped his way through the Worthing defence to score a converted try.

But Worthing weren’t to be denied their second win of the season as Joe Burns barged his way over the line to clinch the win at Roundstone Lane.

London Irish Wild Geese 13-28 Redingensians

The Redingensians bounced back from a disappointing opening day defeat to clinch their first win of the season away at London Irish Wild Geese.

The visitors held a slender 9-3 lead at the break, with Jacob Atkins landing three penalties.

And second half scores from Ollie Taylor, Robbie Stapley and a Penalty Try put the away side in command of the game.

The hosts did rally back with 10 points in the final 10 minutes of the match, but it was the Rams who came away from this contest victorious.