Week 4 results round up with week 5...
By Tom Little.
September 24 2012
29th September match previews.
Week 4 22nd September results.
Blaydon 41 17 Fylde
Cambridge 14 32 Rosslyn Park
Cinderford 38 19 Macclesfield
Coventry 41 34 Loughborough Students
Ealing Tfs 56 24 Tynedale
Old Albanians 31 51 Blackheath
Sedgley Park 37 17 Richmond
Wharfedale 18 15 Esher
No real surprises in Week 4 although Fylde continue to fall off the pace with another loss this time at Blaydon, with the home pack in dominant control. Unbeaten leaders Ealing Tfs post another large victory, this time over a visiting Tynedale side who find it difficult away from their own fortress. Ealing’s impressive new recruit Sam Shires from Tynedale, proved what a good move it was for him and his new side.
The only other unbeaten side Cinderford maintain their impressive start to the season with a home win over winless and pointless bottom club Macclesfield, who are finding it difficult to live without replacing the Mulcrone brothers.
Coventry Rugby go from 11th to 6th place, their highest position of the season with another bonus point win, this time over Loughborough Students, who despite still winless did enough to suggest that they will be competitive in this league. It was the power, direct and straight running of the Coventry backs in the first half that gave the Students a lesson in finishing, although to their credit they came back strongly in the 2nd half to claim 2 bonus points.
Third placed Blackheath endorsed their potential with a high scoring victory over Old Albanians, who themselves picked up their 3rd try bonus points of the season.
Rosslyn Park, now up the 5th place, orchestrated by fly half Sam Katz achieved a bonus point win at Cambridge, who are struggling in 14th place.
A dominant 2nd half performance by the Sedgley Park pack found their visitors Richmond unable to cope giving the home side with another bonus point victory.
The final game saw home bankers Wharfedale achieve a hard fought victory over recently relegated Esher, who are finding the drop down to National League 1 no easy matter.
There are still two unbeaten sides at the top Ealing Tfs and Cinderford, whilst there are still 2 teams yet to win a game at the bottom, Loughborough Students and Macclesfield.
Yet to emphasise how close and exciting this league is there is only one bonus point win separating Blackheath in 3rd place and Wharfedale in 12th spot.
However a worrying statistic raising its head throughout this league, mirrowing both The Premiership and Championship is the approximately 20% reduction in attendances. Food for thought for the powers to be
Week 5 29th september fixtures and match previews
Blackheath v Blaydon
Esher v Old Albanians
Fylde v Sedgley Park
Loughborough St v Wharfedale
Macclesfield v Cambridge
Richmond v Ealing Tfs
Rosslyn Park v Coventry
Tynedale v Cinderford
Some key games this Saturday in Week 5, both at the top and middle of the league, as well as the large number of mid-table teams looking to put down their own marker to challenge the top.
Leaders Ealing Tfs face the short journey to meet newly promoted Richmond, who although have made a steady start to the league, are finding that there may be question marks over their pack. Ealing who have specially recruited well in that area so an expected win should consolidate their position as leaders.
Their other closest challengers Cinderford ,face a more difficult visit to the north-east to face unbeaten at home Tynedale. The Foresters will have to dig deep to get anything out of this fixture.
There are two other key fixtures between teams in the top six as Blackheath face Blaydon, and Rosslyn park face Coventry. It is 3rd v 4th as one of the pre-season favourites Blackheath look to maintain their 100% home record, against a strong looking Blaydon side, whose dominant pack is always capable of giving all teams cause for concern.It may go with home advantage but Blaydon cannot be written off.
A fascinating contest is expected at Roehampton as two traditional foes, Rosslyn Park in 5th meet Coventry Rugby who are in 6th place. With both sides having recruited heavily both teams will want to justify that expenditure and that they are genuine challengers in the league. The last two season has seen very closely fought contests between the sides, and there is no reason to doubt that this will not be a feature this season.
The games between somewhat struggling home sides Esher v Old Albanians and Fylde v Sedgley Park could go either way but Old Albanians have already proved they can score tries so Esher cannot take the game too lightly. A resilient Sedgley Park pack even stand a chance to negate Fylde’s backs in the north-west derby. Again both games too close to call.
The final two games sees winless Loughborough Students, at home to Wharfedale, whilst another winless side Macclesfield are at home to Cambridge. Loughborough Students showed enough in their 2nd half performance in losing narrowly at Coventry that they compete with most sides in this league both in the pack and their fast moving backs, so poor travellers Wharfedale cannot take the win for granted.
Bottom side Macclesfield face 14th place Cambridge, which must be their best chance to get their first win of the season, if not it is looking very serious for Macclesfield already in this long season. Cambridge have had enough possession in their last two games but need the necessary cutting edge.
Another week of closely fought games is expected with most games very difficult to predict.
A fuller Rosslyn Park v Coventry Rugby match preview together with expected teams will be sent out later in the week.
Tom Little
Coventry Rugby press office
24th September 2012.
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