National league 1 week 2 - 13th September results round up..

Week 2 Results - 13th September…

Blaydon                                   15              20        Tynedale

Cinderford                              10              23        Hartpury College

Loughborough Students      27              30        Coventry Rugby

Macclesfield                             0              47       Fylde

Old Albanian                          30              47       Ealing Tfs

Richmond                               30              25       Esher Rugby

Rosslyn Park                          31              25       Blackheath

Wharfedale                           32              18       Darlington Mowden Park

A Saturday of local derbies with some close encounters on the whole, but once again poor attendances with none into 4 figures and the highest at Richmond of 743. Results were as expected, with both pre-season favourites Ealing Tfs and Rosslyn Park winning but pride of place goes to Fylde at the top, there are now only 6 unbeaten sides including the two surprise teams of Wharfedale and Tynedale. As expected the bottom two are Macclesfield and Cinderford with a further 4 sides yet to win.

Pre-season favourites Ealing Tfs travelled to St.Albans to meet Old Albanian. A fast flowing game saw the visitors into a half-time lead of 30-3 with the try bonus point already gained. The second half saw a home fight-back with Old Albanian getting their own try bonus, a welcome change after last week’s lack of a cutting edge, but 2 late converted tries by Ealing saw them home. A game for the defensive coaches to get excited about.

The key game in London was Rosslyn Park facing Blackheath who lowered their colours last season at home. An excellent start by the home side saw them 24-5 ahead at half-time helped by mom Sam Sneddon. It was tit for tat for the first 10 minutes of the second half before two last quarter tries by Blackheath almost caused an upset as Park took their foot off the gas.

Newcomers Macclesfield had a rude awakening at they were thumped  by 7 tries to nil by a rampaging Fylde side, in the biggest win of the afternoon.  Pre-season worries about the quality of the home side proved to be correct as they couldn’t live with the pace and offloading game of Fylde. The try bonus point was obtained before half-time as the visitors met little resistance, winger Jordan Dorrington ran in 3 tries, but it was the overall team performance that took the eye.

The other London derby saw league dark horses Richmond maintain their 100% record with a win over Esher. A close game throughout, both sides scored the try bonus and in the end the superior kicking and running from deep from full-back Rob Kirby just proved decisive. Richmond are a team to watch if any of the more fancied teams slip up.

Well who would have thought it! Wharfedale are unbeaten and in 4^th place following their win over newcomers Darlington Mowden Park. A close first half saw the home side leading 18-10 at half-time, however the second half saw the Dale pack start to dominate helped by a flurry of yellow card for the visitors. A couple of penalty tries sealed it for Wharfedale, whilst Darlington MP have seen how difficult it is to step up to this level even with an experienced squad brought in.

The North-East derby saw Blaydon lose at home to Tynedale, although the close score at the end somewhat falsified the visitors dominance. Blaydon were not helped by some poor goal-kicking. An early home try was soon snuffed out by 2 Gavin Beasley penalties, as the home side were pegged back by conceding too many penalties. Tynedale had a more expansive game and two early second half tries gave them a 20-5 lead. A very late fight-back by Blaydon almost caused an injustice but Tynedale, still unbeaten are now up to 6^th and after last season’ s flirt with relegation face the rest of the campaign with confidence.

It was a strange game as Loughborough Students faced an injury ravaged Coventry Rugby side. Poor discipline cost the Students dear in the first half as Coventry took advantage taking a 20-8 half-time lead. Seemingly cruising at 27-8 up early in the second half more injuries and taking the eye off the ball allowed the Students back in. It was only a late Cliffie Hodgson penalty and a late miss by the Students which stopped them getting an unlikely victory.

The final game saw a somewhat scrappy affair as Cinderford lost for the second time this season,this time at home to newcomers Hartpury College. An early Jack Adams try for the home side was soon overtaken by 2 penalties by Gareth Thompson to give a halftime score of 5-6. An early second half try by Cinderford put them briefly in the lead, but then the Students took control with three tries as they ran out comfortable winners. A loss that leaves Cinderford second from bottom ,but suggests that Hartpury will do enough to survive their first taste of National league 1.

Tom Little

Coventry Rugby press office

15^th September 2014.