Tis the season to be jolly for Hartpury

A fifteenth consecutive bonus-point win for Hartpury College has seen the league leaders increase their gap to 20 points at the top of National One as we approach the Christmas break.

With one game left before the league takes two weeks off, College secured yet another maximum point victory in Round 15 with a convincing win over bottom of the table Macclesfield and Hartpury must now think that this is their season to take another step up the English rugby ladder.

Birmingham Moseley are currently the closest challengers to Hartpury, but even coach Kevin Maggs believes his side are unlikely to catch the table toppers, despite Moseley securing a victory over Esher.

Elsewhere in Round 15, Fylde’s away day woes continued as they fell to defeat against Loughborough while relegation rivals Darlington Mowden Park snatched a draw at home to Coventry and despite a spirited performance, Hull Ionians lost to the Old Albanian.

Macclesfield 12-62 Hartpury College

League leaders Hartpury College once again hit top gear to demolish Macclesfield and secure their 15^th consecutive bonus-point win of the season.

College, who now have a 20 point lead at the top of this division, were almost out of sight at half-time thanks to tries from Ben Vellacott, George Boulton, and Jonas Mikalcius.

A try from Charlie Ingall had kept Macclesfield very much in this game early on, but when Max Van Sertima was sent-off midway through the first period, Macc’s hopes evaporated.

Mikalcius added to his first-half score and Nathan Taylor, Mat Gilbert, Robbie Shaw and Jacob Perry also crossed.

A late Martin Kent try for the hosts was not enough to take the shine off another excellent display by Hartpury who continued their sensational season.

Birmingham Moseley 24-6 Esher

Birmingham Moseley maintained their 100 per cent home record this season and remained second in the table after this victory over Esher.

Moseley, who suffered a humbling defeat against Hartpury College last weekend, were 10-6 ahead at the break thanks to an Ed Sheldon try and five points from the boot of James Williams.

Esher performed well in the first period and deserved to be in this game at the interval after two Stephen Boatman penalties, but the Surrey-based club were unable to add to their tally in the second period.

The hosts began the second-half with a Penalty Try (which saw Boatman yellow carded for Esher) and with the extra man, Moseley turned the screw and were rewarded with a Greg Charlton try.

The home side could not find another score to secure a bonus-point and despite a seventh straight home victory, even coach Kevin Maggs feels that his side are unlikely to reel in league leaders Hartpury.

Plymouth Albion 20-5 Blackheath

New Plymouth Albion Head Coach Kieran Hallett began his tenure at Brickfields with a hard-fought win over Blackheath.

Hallett has replaced the departing Dan Parkes who left his head coach role at Albion last Tuesday after five months in charge.

Player/Coach Hallett helped Plymouth carve out a 10-5 lead by the interval in his first game in charge as he landed a penalty before converting Herbie Stupple’s try.

Blackheath got themselves back into this game just before the break through Marcus Burcham, but that was as good as it got for the visitors in testing and challenging conditions on the south coast.

Club had the better of the opening 20 minutes of the second period and when Tom Cowan-Dickie was sin-binned, Blackheath could sense a route back into this encounter.

However, Albion’s defence held firm and when they were back to their full complement of players, Hallett slotted over a penalty to extend their lead to eight points with just over five minutes remaining.

Their hard work in defence was rewarded in the dying embers of this match as Robin Wedlake capitalised on a Blackheath dropped pass to dive over and secure an excellent win at the end of a tough week for Albion.

Cambridge 10-20 Ampthil and District

Ampthill and District extended their winning run to five matches as they edged out Cambridge at Volac Park.

The visitors made a great start as they were awarded a Penalty Try which fly-half Joe Tarrant duly converted on the 20^th minute.

Captain Ben Gulliver was sent to the sin-bin late in the first-half, but the A’s were able to extend their lead as winger Sam Baker scored a try to give them a 12-0 interval advantage.

Tarrant landed a penalty soon after the break to move Ampthill further in front, but two scores from Jake McCloud and Lawrence Hutchinson before the hour brought Cambridge right back into this contest.

The last 15 minutes saw both sides going for the victory and it was Ampthill who were able to deal the final blow as Gulliver barged his way over from close range to seal the win for the Bedfordshire outfit.

Darlington Mowden Park 20-20 Coventry

Darlington Mowden Park fly-half Josh Bragman kicked a last-gasp conversion to rescue a draw against Coventry.

The first-half ended 6-3 to DMP courtesy of two penalties from Bragman while Cov’s three points came from Tony Fenner, but both sides showed more ambition after the break.

Will Maisey rumbled over after latching on to a Fenner chip, before Max Trimble extended the visitors’ lead with an excellent individual try.

A score from James Fitzpatrick on 73 minutes gave the home side some hope, but a penalty from Fenner four minutes later seemed to have sealed the win for Coventry.

However, deep into injury time James Price was yellow-carded for the away side and Darlington took full advantage when it mattered most as James Penman went over before Bragman held his nerve to snatch a share of the points.

Rosslyn Park 51-14 Blaydon

Rosslyn Park secured a superb bonus-point victory over Blaydon to return to winning ways in National One.

Park suffered a shock defeat to Hull Ionians in Round 14, but they were back to their best in London on Saturday as they ran in six tries on their way to victory.

The home side were comfortably ahead 23-7 at half-time thanks tries from Paul Henderson and Mark Kohler while the impressive Harry Leonard kicked 13 points.

Frazer Wilson scored Blaydon’s only try of the first period, but they crucially lost prop Paddy Ryan to the sin-bin just after the interval and Park capitalised on the extra man.

Kohler dotted down his second before Ed Vaughan, Nick Wade and Michael Morris all crossed to bring up the half-century of points for the hosts.

Blaydon continued to fight and were rewarded for this endeavour late on when Tom Grimes danced his way through the Park defence to touch down.

Loughborough Students 46-17 Fylde

Loughborough Students ended a run of two National One defeats in a row with an excellent victory against Fylde.

Students were 19-7 up half-time thanks to 14 points from the boot of Owen Waters while Gair Currie dotted down for the hosts. Adam Lewis kept Fylde in touch with their only score of the first period.

Fylde began the second period strongly, but it was Loughborough who claimed the first score as Yiannis Loizias touched down.

The home side then extended their lead as Will Edwards sprinted over, but a yellow-card to Matt Macpherson gave Fylde a lifeline.

Jake Pope drove over for the visitors’ second try of the afternoon to make the score 29-14, but Loughborough then went back on the attack as George Davis and Sam Pointon both crossed to put the game beyond Fylde’s reach.

Alex Loney scored a last-minute consolation for Fylde, but it is now just one win in their last 21 away matches in National One.

Old Albanian 15-13 Hull Ionians                         

The Old Albanian held off a late Hull Ionians fightback to secure their seventh win of the season.

The hosts were 8-5 up at half-time thanks to a penalty from England U20 international Max Malins and a try via Al Gliksten while Joe Allot crossed for The I’s.

The OAs’ Ross Hamilton then went over nine minutes after the restart to make it 15-5.

Lee Millar responded with a penalty for the visitors before Phil Eggleshaw dotted down a minute from the end to reduce the OAs’ lead to two points.

However, the away side could not convert and had to settle with a single point as they headed back up north still in the bottom three.