Chinnor hammer Barnstaple to move into second

Chinnor are continuing to turn heads in National Two South this season and their result on Saturday was something to sit up and take notice of.

They ran in 12 tries against Barnstaple on their way to their fourth straight victory of the season which has seen the Black and Whites move up to second in the table after fighting off relegation for large parts of last season.

If that wasn’t enough action, Henley Hawks and Exmouth were involved in a thriller while the Old Elthamians left it late to end Bishops Stortford’s winning run and continue their own.

Elsewhere, new boys London Irish Wild Geese have ended September positively with back to back wins while there were also victories for Taunton, Redruth, Worthing Raiders and Clifton.

Taunton Titans 30-26 Bury St Edmunds

A last-gasp Gary Kingdom try saw Taunton Titans maintain their perfect start to this National Two South campaign as they secured victory over Bury St Edmunds in an enthralling contest in Somerset.

Scott Lyle kicked a fantastic touchline conversion following a Sam Sterling try, but it ultimately wasn’t enough for Bury against the current table toppers.

Instead, it was National Two South’s leading points scorer Kingdom who was the hero, scoring the winning try in the 89^th minute.

Bury led this frantic encounter 13-10 at the break thanks to a try from Emyr Williams and eight points from the boot of Lyle, while Taunton’s points came from a Tom Popham score and Kingdom kicking five points.

Lyle slotted two more penalties over after the interval, but Bury’s task to defend their lead was made harder when Sterling was sin-binned before Williams was red-carded for striking the Taunton scrum.

Taunton took full advantage of this as Kingdom added another three points before Oliver Graham darted over to give Taunton the lead. Bury continued to be on the ropes after this and conceded a Penalty Try after relentless pressure by the hosts who now led 25-19.

But, Bury did not lie down and somehow went ahead in this match as a series of penalties led to Sterling crossing in the corner to give his side a one point lead with seconds remaining. However, there was still one final twist as Kingdom found a gap in the Bury defence to steal the win and keep the Titans at the top.

Chinnor 76-5 Barnstaple

Chinnor continued their unbeaten start to the season as they hit top gear to demolish Barnstaple and move up to second in the table.

The Black and Whites were almost out of sight at half-time thanks to a Penalty Try as well as a brace from Bevon Armitage and scores via Henry Lamont, Tom Burns and CJ Osazuwa.

A try by Ben Hilton after the break had given Barnstaple some joy, but that didn’t last much longer as Chinnor were once again rampant in the second half.

Danny Barnes scored a fine hat-trick while Junior Fatialofa, Bertie Hopkin and Lamont again also crossed in this 12-try rout for Matt Williams’ men.

Bishops Stortford 19-22 Old Elthamians

Dominic Lespierre’s late try saw the Old Elthamains secure their fourth straight win of the season as they ended Bishops Stortford’s unbeaten start to the campaign.

Fred Hosking went over for the OE’s while Sam Winter and Jimmy Rea (2) crossed for Strotford in a tight first half which ended with the hosts going in at the break 19-10 to the good.

Stortford were unable to build on a decent first half display as the OE’s worked their way back into this match and were rewarded for their slick play when Will Simmonds went over in the corner. Tom White converted to reduce the home sides advantage to just two points.

And the comeback was complete when winger Lespierre forced his way over to score the winning try.

Redruth 10-8 Redingensians

Redruth kept up their unbeaten home record with a narrow win against the Redingensians at the Recreation Ground.

All 18 points in this clash came in the first period as the home side took an early though Todd Prisk’s try. James Huxtable converted.

The Reds were looking to push on after that score, but errors hampered their chances and they were made to pay when Chico U’Chong touched down for the visitors following a Jacob Atkins penalty.

Trailing by a point, Huxtable missed a penalty but made amends just before the break to edge his side in front and despite plenty of endeavour from both sides in the second half, neither could add a further score.

Worthing Raiders 21-15 Cindeford

Worthing Raiders got back to winning ways as they grinded out a victory over Cinderford at Roundstone Lane.

A first-half try from Alex Wilcockson and five points from the boot of Matthew McLean gave the Raiders a 10-3 lead at the break.

Cinderford moved to within a point of their hosts after half-time as James Moffat added two more penalties to his total, before McLean gave Worthing some breathing space with his second penalty of the afternoon.

But Moffat was keen to have the upper hand over his opposite number and nudged his side in front with a brace of penalties as Cinderford headed into the final 10 minutes with a slender advantage.

That lead didn’t last long though as McLean made it a hat-trick of penalties before Wilcockson grabbed his second try of the game which sealed the win for Worthing five minutes from time.

Henley Hawks 43-38 Exmouth

Henley Hawks made it two wins on the bounce as they dug deep to see off winless Exmouth at Dry Leas.

The Oxfordshire side outscored the Devonshire club six tries to five to register their first win of the season on home soil.

A brace from Joe Butler, tries from Xaiver Andre, Ziana Montout-Alexis Liam O Neil and Tom Gardner as well as 13 points from George Jackson proved enough for Henley.

Dan Powell and Henry Goldson scored first-half Exmouth tries before Sam Thomas and Powell did given the visitors the lead on different occasions in the second half.

Henley hit back to retake the lead both times they fell behind but had a nervous finish to this game as Sam Conway crossed for Exmouth before the away side had a late try disallowed for offside.

London Irish Wild Geese 31-17 Barnes

London Irish Wild Geese saw out September in style as they made it two successive wins thanks to this bonus-point victory over Barnes.

The hosts led 12-5 at the break with tries from George Owen and Tyler Bush.

Tom Galvin went over to keep Barnes in touch but they failed to start the second half strongly as the Wild Geese gained the ascendency.

Eddie Fraher and Owen again secured the bonus point for the hosts, but Barnes did spark into life in the final 15 minutes of the half as they dotted down twice more to make the score 24-17.

But it was Owen again who completed his hat-trick in the fifth minute of injury time to move Wild Geese up to eighth in the division.

Clifton 25-20 Canterbury

Clifton picked up their first win in nine league matches as they secured victory at home against Canterbury.

Tries from Will Pomphrey and Danny Wells, either side of Sam Kenny touching down from close range, gave the hosts a deserved lead.

After a drop-goal from Brad Barnes and a second try for Pomphrey had put Clifton 22-5 ahead, the away side responded.

Barnes and Best exchanged penalties before Best added 10 more points to his total as he slotted over another penalty as well as converting his own try. Guy Hilton quickly follow Best’s effort and now Canterbury were looking very dangerous.

However, despite the City Men controlling the final quarter of this contest as they hunted down a five point deficit, Clifton hung on for their first win of the season.