Teams take another step towards safety in National Two South

The bottom half of National Two South has been the focus of attention over the last couple of weeks and at the end of Round 18, small gaps have now started to emerge as teams look to move away from the relegation zone.

Barnes, Worthing Raiders and Canterbury all secured vital wins this weekend as they continue to make their way up the table while Chinnor, Redingensians and Southend Saxons remain in trouble.

Towards the top half of the table, the situation stayed the same as the Old Albanian looked untroubled on their way to another victory while Cambridge, Bishops Stortford and Taunton are still very much in the hunt for a shot of National One after their wins; Some more straightforward than others.

Bury St Edmunds 12-31 Old Albanian

The Old Albanian remain five points clear at the top of National Two South after securing their eighth away win of the season against Bury St Edmunds.

The home side had led 7-6 after 20 minutes of this encounter thanks to a Scott Lyle try which he converted, but three scores in16 minutes put the OA’s in control heading into the second-half.

The away sides early points had come via the boot of Matthew Gallagher before Nicholas Foster, Nicholas Stevens and James Shanahan all crossed to give the OA’s a 7-21 half-time advantage.

And they didn’t take their foot off the gas at the beginning of the second period as they wrapped up the bonus point on 47 minutes when winger James Spiers went over.

From there, the OA’s looked comfortable and their win was ensured when Morgan Thompson dotted down 10 minutes from the end with replacement Sean Stapleton scoring a consolation for Bury with the final play of the game.

Cambridge 29-27 Redruth

A revival from Redruth in the final 10 minutes was not enough to stop Cambridge winning an entertaining National Two South game match which featured nine tries.

Michael Ayrton, Albert Portsmouth and Lawrence Hutchinson all touched down as Cambridge took a 17-10 lead into half-time at Volac Park with Redruth’s first half points coming from Benjamin Priddy and the boot of David Mankee.

After the break, Portsmouth and Hutchinson both grabbed their second tries of the game with another try from Priddy sandwiched in between, which meant the score was 29-15 with 13 minutes remaining.

Priddy completed his hat-trick nine minutes from time, but his score was not converted. The away side were then awarded a Penalty Try right at the death to seal two losing bonus points as second placed Cambridge breathed a sigh of relief as they remain on the tail of the Old Albanian.

Bishops Stortford 36-8 Chinnor

Bishops Stortford’s 100 per cent home record continued on Saturday as they ran out comfortable winners against a struggling Chinnor side.

The away team were outclassed as Stortord ran in five tries on their way to their ninth win of the season as Silver Leys.

Hamish Irving, Baxter Wilson and George Cullen all crossed in the first half with Cullen deadly accurate from the tee as he kicked seven points to give the hosts a 22-5 lead at the break.

George Messum had dotted down for Chinnor in the first period and three points was added to their total when Jonathon Hopkin landed a penalty on 51 minutes, but that was as good as it got for the 15^th placed side.

A minute later, Stortford were awarded a Penalty Try before Pierfrancesco Dotta rounded off proceedings with a try on 79 minutes as Stortford continue to march on in National Two South.

Redingensians 14-40 Taunton Titians

If there were any doubts that Taunton Titans might have been out of the promotion race, then they were banished on Saturday as 20 points from the boot of Gary Kingdom helped the visitors on their way to a comfortable win over the Redingensians.

Three penalties from Kingdom and a try from Nicolas Mason gave the Titians a 7-16 lead just before the interval, Sean McDermott with the only score for the Rams.

But the hosts were very much still in the contest heading into the second period as Taunton’s Barrie-John Chapman and Brett Harvey were both yellow carded on the stroke of half-time.

However, this didn’t affect the away side in the slightest as Taunton stretched their lead even further despite being down to 13 men as Mason crossed for his second of the afternoon two minutes after the restart.

The Redingensians’ Jamar Richardson brought the deficit down to nine points on 51 minutes after his try, but from there, Taunton raced away from their hosts.

Kingdom landed his fourth penalty of the day on the hour before Aron Struminski and Paul Davies put the icing on the cake for Taunton who stay 13 points behind Cambridge, but they do have a game in hand.

Dorking 20-22 Old Elthamians

Thomas White scored a late penalty to seal Old Elthamians’ third straight win of 2016 as they beat Dorking away from home.

Despite trailing for three quarters of this game, the OE’s fought back after Benjamin Marfo was sin-binned on the hour for Dorking.

Jay Rudland-Thomas and Lee Nelmes both scored tries while Thomas White converted the two scores and slotted over a penalty on 79 minutes to win this encounter.

Armand Roux, along with Marfo, went over Dorking either side of the half-time with Matthew Noble slotting over the other 10 points.

But a slight lack of discipline opened the door for the OE’s, who were trailing 20-5 at the time, to comeback and turn this game around.

Barnes 27-25 Clifton

Clifton’s tough run of results continued on Saturday as they were edged out away from home by Barnes who are now 14 points clear of the relegation zone.

A Penalty Try on 56 minutes proved to be the pivotal score for Barnes after the sides had been evenly matched throughout this encounter.

The visitors took a narrow 15-17 lead into half-time after tries from Ciaran Smyth and Tom O’Toole were cancelled out by two converted scores from Clifton’s Samuel Harrison and Alexander Giltrow while O’Toole and James MacKay also exchanged a penalty apiece.

After the break, Smyth got his second try of the afternoon to give Barnes the lead once again before they were awarded a Penalty Try which opened up a 27-17 lead.

Clifton’s hopes of a comeback were dented slightly when Giltrow was sin-binned and they could only manage another MacKay penalty and a try from William Pomphrey in the final play of the game as they fell to their fourth straight defeat.

Launceston 5-38 Worthing Raiders

Eighteen points from full-back Matthew McLean gave Worthing Raiders their first win of 2016 against bottom club Launceston who are now 25 points from safety.

McLean converted tries from Robert Smithand Jonathan Whittall as the visitors led 0-14 at the break.

It took Worthing less than 60 seconds in the second-half to score their third try of the game as Alexander Wilcockson touched down before McLean got his name on the try scoring sheet.

He scored a brace inside three minutes to seal the bonus point for Worthing and even though he converted just one of his tries, the game was well and truly up for Launceston.

Matthew Farnes rubbed salt into the home side’s wounds with a try on 78 minutes before Martin Kneebone scored a consolation right at the death as Launceston remain winless and rock bottom of National Two South. Worthing are now up to ninth after this win.

Southend Saxons 14-31 Canterbury

Canterbury are in great form at the perfect time in the season as they made it three straight victories away at Southend on Saturday.

After winning just one match in 11 since September, it left them in the relegation zone over Christmas, but Canterbury are now up to 11^th in the table after this run of recent victories.

Southend had led early on in this clash thanks to a score from Harry Hudson, but tries from Thomas Burnes, Mason Rosvall, William Ferris and Martyn Beaumont gave Canterbury a comfortable 7-24 advantage at half-time.

Aiden Moss added the fifth try of the day for the City Men five minutes into the second period after Southend were reduced to 14 players just before half-time when Ashton Bevans-Royston was yellow carded.

The home side did have the last say in this contest when Hudson crossed again, but that won’t have cheered Southend up as they are now just two points clear of the drop zone after just one win their last nine matches.