Winning streaks continue for Hartpury and Blackheath

After strong seasons last term, it is perhaps unsurprising to see both Hartpury College and Blackheath towards the top of the National One table at this stage of the campaign.

Both sides have begun the season in fine form, but it is Hartpury College who currently lead the way in the division and look unstoppable at present. John Barnes’ side have picked up maximum points from all seven games so far this year and stay seven points clear at the summit as things stand.

Blackheath lost to Hartpury College on the opening weekend of the season, but they have not looked back since then as they have won their last six games to move up to third in the table – their most recent victory coming against a strong Ampthill and District side.

Elsewhere, there were narrow victories for the like of Hull Ionians, Cambridge and Loughborough while Plymouth Albion and Coventry returned to winning ways in style.

Blaydon 5-47 Hartpury College

Hartpury College continued their perfect start to the National One season as they picked up their seventh straight bonus-point win thanks to victory over Blaydon.

Italy U20 international Jake Polledri produced a man of the match performance as he went over on four occasions for the hosts, while Elias Caven scored a brace and Steve Leonard and Jonas Mikalcius also crossed.

Caven and Robbie Shaw added a conversion apiece with Jamie Forrester succeeding with two penalties.

Blaydon’s points came from England Counties’ Trevor Davison in the second period.

Rosslyn Park 24-31 Birmingham Moseley

Teenager James Williams scored twice to help steer Birmingham Moseley to their sixth victory of the season as they beat Rosslyn Park.

Park began strongly against Moseley and opened up an early lead though a Charlie Piper try and five points from the boot of Harry Leonard.

The away side responded as Williams and Drew Cheshire dotted down for converted tries while Williams added a penalty to give them a 17-10 half-time lead.

Moseley put their foot down after half-time, Chris Brightwell and Williams both scoring to put Kevin Maggs’ side 31-17 ahead.

David Vincent’s try nudged Park back into the contest, but they had to settle for a losing bonus-point as Birmingham Moseley held on for the win.

Ampthill and District 17-31 Blackheath

Blackheath extended their excellent run of form after overcoming Ampthill and District at Dillingham Park.

Club came into this contest on a five game winning run and they produced an excellent second-half performance to stay third in the National One table.

A converted try from Pete Weightman had put Ampthill 7-5 up at the break, with Blackheath responding through a Freddie Owen score.

Jack Walsh and Markus Burcham then crossed to put the away side ahead before a Penalty Try just after the hour saw Blackheath take full control of this contest.

Ampthill were reduced to 14 men and Club exploited that as Leo Fielding’s effort gave them a 31-10 lead which completed their bonus-point win before Sam Baker scored a consolation try for the hosts.

Plymouth Albion 39-3 Darlington Mowden Park

Plymouth Albion bounced back from a disappointing defeat to Fylde with a commanding victory over an injury-hit Darlington Mowden Park at Brickfields.

The hosts scored the first try of the afternoon as Dan Williams profited from a number of pick and drives after team-mate Kieran Hallett had given Plymouth the lead with two early penalties.

Caolan Ryan added a penalty on half-time for DMP, but that was as good as it got for the visitors who were blown away in the second half.

Setareki Raumakita raced over before Rupert Freestone scored a quick-fire brace to put the icing on the cake for Albion. Matt Crosscombe added a further try to round things off for Dan Parkes’ side.

Old Albanian 26-35 Loughborough Students

Loughborough Students picked up their second away win of the season as they produced another positive performance to beat the Old Albanian at Woolams.

Loughborough were helped into a 22-7 lead thanks to tries from Yiannis Loizias, Will Edwards and Austin Beckett with seven points coming from the boot of Josh Sharp.

Brian Tuilagi had crossed for the OA’s and his team-mate Alex Glixten found his way through the Loughborough defence five minutes into the second-half to reduce the deficit to eight points.

But Students hit back as two penalties from Sharp and a try from Gair Currie put the match beyond the hosts.

Jimmy Spiers and Tuilagi crossed late on for the OA’s to secure a try bonus-point, but the hosts now head into Round Eight on the back of three straight defeats.

Coventry 53-24 Fylde

Coventry ended a run of three successive losses with an eight try victory over Fylde at the Butts Park Arena.

Scores from Jack Willis, James Stokes and a penalty try put Cov into a 19-7 lead.

Fylde fought back with a converted Tom Burtonwood try – after Chris Briers had opened the scoring for the visitors - and a penalty from Greg Smith before three points from the boot of Will Maisey made it 22-17 at the break.

Tom Howe, Andy Brown and Rob Knox all crossed as Coventry raced clear in the second-half, but Fylde continued to attack and were rewarded when David Fairbrother went over seven minutes from the end.

But 39-24 was as close as the visitors were going to get, with Coventry scoring tries seven and eight late on.

First, Willis claimed his second try while Owain James, dual registered from Wasps, darted over to seal Coventry’s third win of the season.

Cambridge 26-20 Macclesfield

Cambridge earned their second home win on the spin as they beat Macclesfield at Volac Park.

Ryan Parkison helped Macclesfield lead 10-0 and they were in front at the break despite Lawrence Hutchinson going over the home side.

But it was Hutchinson that helped the hosts go ahead after the break as he followed up James Ayrton’s score to give Cambridge a 19-10 advantage.

Wade Schoeman's quick thinking allowed him to go through under the posts to extend Cambridge’s lead on 67 minutes, but Macclesfield fought back to claim a losing bonus-point as Max Smith and David Marwick both crossed after a below-par performance in the second period from the Blues.

Hull Ionians 32-29 Esher

Hull Ionians held on against Esher to secure their third victory of the season in a pulsating encounter at Brantingham Park.

Sam Wilson’s try and a brace of penalties from Liam Millar and Isaac Green put Hull Ionians ahead at the break.

Dan Tai Sen Choy’s score extended their lead to 27-8 just after the interval. Karl Furey dotted down Esher’s second try of the afternoon, but that was quickly cancelled out by Laurence Cowen as the I’s stretched their advantage.

But Esher responded strongly as tries from Karl Furey, Charlie Gossington and Peter Synott meant that the Surry-based side found themselves just three points behind with 20 minutes still left of this encounter.

However, the home side defended strongly and did have Greg Lound to thank for a try saving tackle as Esher failed to convert what looked like a golden opportunity.