SATURDAY 10th DECEMBER 2005

Coventry 19 (Tries:  Johnson, Moore. Pens: Moore 3.) 

Exeter Chiefs 24 (Tries: Murdoch, Barrett, Blythe. Cons: Yapp 3. Pen: Yapp.). 

Exeter Chiefs bounced back from last weeks loss at home to Otley with a rare away win this season as they were five point winners over Coventry.  

Tony Yapp kicked the Chiefs ahead on two minutes but James Moore cancelled it out three minutes later.

The Chiefs were back in front on 14 minutes when wing Alistair Murdoch crossed the home line and Yapp converted. By half time Moore had pulled six points back for the home side to trail by a point at the break 10-9.

Coventry took the lead early in the second half when wing Kurt Johnson went over for 14-10. 10 minutes later and the Chiefs took the lead again when hooker Sam Blythe went over and with Yapp converting it was 17-14.

The game swung again when Moore went over for a try on 58 minutes and Coventry were 19-17 ahead.

The winning score came from scrum half Kevin Barrett just after the hour mark and with Yapp again on target they went 24-19 ahead in what was the final score of the match.   

Doncaster 31 (Tries: Van Den Berg, S Boden, Van Vuuren. Cons: Liley, Wakley. Pens: Liley 4.) 

Pertemps Bees 27 (Tries: Walsh, Baxter, Beim. Cons: Lamb 3. Pens: Lamb 2.). 

Doncaster continued their good home form with another win beating Pertemps Bees 31-27.   

Ryan Lamb put the Bees ahead with a second minute penalty goal. Rob Liley on his return to first team action put the home side ahead with penalties in the 4^th and 13^th minutes. They went 13-3 ahead when centre Joe Van Den Berg went over, Liley converted and put over a third penalty goal on 27 to lead 16-3 which was the score at half time.

Liley and Lamb exchanged penalties early in the second half before home hooker Steve Boden touched down to give his side a 26 -6 lead.

Two tries from the Bees pulled the score back to 26-20 after 75 minutes with replacement Tim Walsh and wing Nick Baxter touching down. The home side gave themselves some breathing space when wing Donovan Van Vuuren went over for the third Doncaster try. Late on the Bees scored a third try as well to claim a losing bonus point with their other wing Tom Beim touching down this time and Lamb converted. 

The win moves Doncaster up to 11^th place in the table whilst the Bees are in 12^th place.

Earth Titans 32 (Tries: Hala’uifa 3, Holtby, Donald. Cons: Whitehead 2. Pen: Whitehead.) 

Sedgley Park 11 (Try: Woof. Pens: Jones 2.). 

Earth Titans remain in fifth spot after this home win over bottom of the table Sedgley Park. The visitors took the lead with a 4^th minute Phil Jones penalty goal. The Titans took the lead on 24 minutes with No 8 Chris Hala’uifa touching down but Jones gave Park the lead again on the half hour mark. The Titans took the lead for the second time a couple of minutes later with Hala’uifa getting his second try and they took a 12-6 lead into the break.

Mike Whitehead kicked the home side further ahead with a 45^th minute penalty goal before flanker Scott Donald went over in the 63^rd minute to make it 20-6. They secured the four try bonus point when wing John Holtby went in for a 68^th minute try and a 25-5 lead. Both sides scored a try in the final 10 minutes as the Titans took the points.   

London Welsh 17 (Try: Swales. Pens: Meenan 4.) 

Cornish Pirates 20 (Tries: Welding, James. . Cons: Barlow 2. Pens: Barlow 2). 

London Welsh gave the Pirates a run for their money but could not quite pull off a shock win over the second placed side in the table.  

The Welsh went into a 6-0 lead with two Mark Meenan penalty goals in the opening five minutes. The lead last just two minutes before Pirates wing Richard Welding went over for his 12^th try of the season and Tom Barlow converted for 7-6. Barlow added a penalty goal four minutes later and on 25 minutes they were 17-6 ahead with centre Kevin James touching down and Barlow again finding the target. 

The Welsh though got back into it by half time with a third Meenan penalty goal and a try from full back Gareth Swales to trail by three at the break.

13 minutes into the second half and the Welsh were level with Meenan’s fourth penalty goal.

The winning score came from the boot of Barlow in the 75^th minute.

Newbury 17 (Tries: Carter, Cracknell, Briggs. Con: Feeney.) 

Bedford Blues 50 (Tries: Harris, Allen, Johnson, Kettle, Strauss, Rainbow, Kendal. Cons: Harris 6. Pen: Harris.). 

Bedford Blues responded to last week’s loss at home to Harlequins with an impressive 50-17 win at Newbury running in seven tries to claim all five points on offer.

They did the damage in the first half with five converted tries as they went in 35-0 ahead. They were ahead on 13 minutes when full back Mark Harris went in for a try and added the conversion. He converted all five first half tries.

In the second half Newbury pulled 12 points back in the third quarter with tries form prop Simon Carter and flanker Chris Cracknell and Feeney adding a conversion for 35-12.

Harris kicked a penalty for the Blues and then converted the sixth Blues try from replacement Chris Rainbow. Both tries scored tries in the final 10 minutes as the Blues took the win.

Otley 29 (Tries: Shuttleworth, Wilson. Cons: Binns 2. Pens: Binns 5.) 

Nottingham 20 (Tries: Wyles, Molenaar. Cons: Stenhouse 2. Pens: Stenhouse 2.). 

Otley are up to eighth after this home win over Nottingham at Cross Green. .

Simon Binns gave the home side a 6-0 lad in the opening 13 minutes and a 6-0 lead. Nottingham came back and took the lead on 23 minutes with centre Tom Wyles touching down and Neil Stenhouse converted and the added a 34^th minute penalty goal to lead 10-6. Otley took the lead a minute later when full back Ian Shuttleworth went over and Binns converted to lead 13-10 at half time.

In the second half Binns kicked the home side a further three points clear before No 8 Glen Wilson got the second home try and with Binns converted they were 23-10 ahead. Stenhouse pulled three points back for the visitors but two more Binns penalties made it 29-13 to the home side after 77 minutes.

Nottingham did manage the final score when the other centre Tim Molenaar going over and Stenhouse converted.

Plymouth Albion 16 (Tries: Saumi, Too’ala. Pens: Saumi 2.) 

Harlequins 23 (Try: Easter. Pen: Mehrtens 6.). 

Plymouth Albion gave the Quins a run for their money at Brickfields in front over a 5551 crowd.

Andrew Mehrtens kicked the visitors into a 6-0 lead in the opening eight minutes. The home side were over the Quins line on 15 minutes when centre Nat Saumi went over for an unconverted try. Saumi did add a couple of penalty goals as the home side went 11-6 ahead on 25 minutes. Four minutes later the Quins were level when No 8 Nick Easter went in for his 7^th try of the season. With half time approaching Albion went ahead again when No 8 Alfie Too’ala went in for a try and they took a 16-11 lead into the break.

In the second half it was a tale of Andrew Mehrtens boot as he slotted over four penalties goals to carry his side to a 12^th consecutive win as they maintained their nine point lead at the top of the table.