While Taunton made it five wins from five, there was a real shake up below them in National Two South this week.
Bishop’s Stortford moved second in the table while there were excellent wins for Clifton and Cambridge. Elsewhere, all three of the newly promoted sides picked up victories in what was a highly entertaining week in National Two South. Here is a round-up of all the action.
Southend 19-34 Taunton
Taunton just about kept up their perfect start to the season as a late Jack Claydon try made sure they sealed their fifth bonus point win of the campaign.
Two well taken tries from Iain Meads gave Southend a 12-11 lead at half-time with Taunton’s points coming from the boot of Gary Kingdom and a try from Nicholas Mason.
Toby East touched down for Taunton just after the restart with Kingdom nudging over another penalty before East pinged over a drop-goal to give his side a 12-24 lead on 56 minutes.
Centre Christopher Vaughan then brought Southend back into the game as he crossed after a lovely weighted chip from fly-half Bradley Burr, but any hopes of a comeback were dashed as Lewis Webb touched down or Taunton before Claydon secured the bonus point for the Titians.
Bishop’s Stortford 47-15 Redruth
Bishop’s Stortford moved up to second in the table after a thumping win over Redruth at Silver Lays. Andy Long’s side had too much for Redruth on the day as they scored seven tries.
Michael Gallagher scored a hat-trick, with Nicholas Hankin, Samuel Winter, Samuel Coleman and James Rae also touching down.
Redruth rarely had moments to savour in this encounter, but their scores came from Kyle Marriott on 31 minutes and Peter Joyce just after half-time.
Stortford have now won four of their five games this season and remain firmly on course to challenge for promotion.
Launceston 19-54 Clifton
Clifton continued their impressive start to the season with a thrashing off Launceston on Saturday as they moved third in the table.
Fergus Manners and Elias Cavern crossed for Clifton’s only tries of the first half with James MacKay converting both and kicking three penalties.
Launceston’s only scores of the first period came from James Salter and Thomas Duncan to give the hosts a lifeline as they went into the break 12-23 behind.
Unfortunately for them, Samuel Harrison scored Clifton’s third try within a minute of the restart, but the Cornish All Blacks responded with a try scored by Ben Hilton.
With the score at 19-30, Clifton decided to put their foot down as Callum Roberts, William Pomphrey and Harrison again rounded off a comfortable win for the South Gloucestershire side.
Cambridge 29-23 Old Albanian
In our preview last week, we tipped this game to be the match of the weekend in National Two South and it duly delivered as Cambridge defeated the Old Albanian in an enthralling battle at Volac Park.
Ean Griffiths scored two tries to give the hosts a four-point advantage at the break while James Spiers touched down for the visitors with James Hearn knocking over a penalty.
The pendulum then swung back-and-forth throughout the second half. Another penalty from Hearn and a try from wing Michael Allen gave the OA’s a brief lead before Brett Daynes made it 19-16 to Cambridge on 48 minutes.
However, the OA’s regained the lead as Allan crossed again and when Gerhard Boshoff pinged over a drop goal for Cambridge with 10 minutes to go, the home side trailed 22-23.
Nicholas Stevens was sent to the sin-bin on 72 minutes for the OA’s, but the decisive moment came three minutes from time, as Lawrence Hutchinson raced away to score the winning try.
Redingensens 28-10 Worthing
The Redingsensens picked up their first win since promotion from National Three as they saw off the challenge of Worthing at Old Bath Road.
A penalty try and a score from Reuben Norville on the stroke of half-time gave the hosts a 7-3 lead at the break with Sean O’Hagan nudging over a penalty for Worthing.
Both sides were reduced to 14 men in the first period with Samuel Brown being dismissed for the home side, while Daniel Peach was sent to the bin for the visitors.
Aaron Hopkins and Samir Kharbouch added two more tries after the break to secure the bonus point for The Rams and a late Daniel Sargent try was merely a consolation for Worthing whose three match winning run came to an end.
Bury St Edmunds 39-10 Canterbury
Like the Redingensens, Bury St Edmunds were also promoted into National Two South last season and they claimed their second win of the campaign as they ran in six tries against Canterbury.
Christopher Lord and Tim Mann both touched down before half-time for Bury with Max Cantwell crossing for Canterbury on 24 minutes. Thomas Best added a penalty for the City Men but they still trailed 17-10 at the break.
Then the floodgates opened. Clement Le Roy and Christopher Snelling both went over early in the second half before Sean Stapleton and Lord once again crossed to round off a commanding performance from the hosts.
Barnes 32-30 Old Elthamians
Barnes made it a trio of wins for the newly promoted sides as they secured their first victory of the season as they edged out the Old Elthamians in a thrilling climax.
The hosts’ first half points came from the boot of Tom O’Toole and two tries from Robert Malaney after Craig Dowsett and a penalty from Christopher Surman had given the OE’s an early 0-10 lead.
James Golledge made the scores 15-15 at half-time with a well worked try for the OE’s, but the pivotal moment of the game seemed to come just after half-time.
Malaney and the OE’s’ Neil Dewale had both been sin-binned either side of the break, but the visitors’ afternoon was made more difficult when replacement Thomas Scorgie was sent off for a high tackle.
Soon after, Mark Popham and Daniel Holmes touched down for Barnes to seal their fourth bonus point of the season but despite being a man light, the OE’s fought back to take the lead.
Dowsett got his second before prop Jeremy Cunnew crossed the whitewash to give the away side an unlikely 29-30 advantage with 15 minutes remaining, but a penalty two minutes from time from O’Toole snatched the victory for Barnes.
Dorking 30-27 Chinnor
Dorking overcame a strong Chinnor performance to make it back to back home wins thanks to a hat-trick from winger Kariym Irvine.
The home side were behind 15-17 at the break with Chinnor’s tries coming from James Tyas and Joseph Vandermolen while William Millett kicked seven points.
Millet was also sin-binned in the first half and after Irvine scored the first try of the afternoon for Dorking, he doubled his tally two minutes before half-time with Fraser McDonald also nudging over a penalty.
Dorking were then down to 14 men with Oliver Edwards was shown a yellow card and Millett extended Chinnor’s lead to 15-20 with the resulting penalty.
But a brace from Ryan Jeffrey gave Dorking the lead on 61 minutes before Chinnor looked to have won it 10 minutes from the end as James Townsend crossed to give them a 25-27 advantage.
However, Irvine wasn’t finished for the afternoon and sealed his hat-trick three minutes from time to clinch the win for Dorking.