By Tom Little
November 24 2014

Results Saturday 22nd November 2014.

Cinderford                              27       17        Wharfedale

Darlington Mowden Park    50       10        Blackheath

Ealing Tfs                                56       15        Fylde

Esher                                       19       17        Loughborough Students

Hartpury College                  10        31        Rosslyn Park

Macclesfield                          17        51        Old Albanian

Richmond                              29        28        Blaydon

Tynedale                                21        57       Coventry Rugby

Bit of a grim day and not just up north, still saw 7 out of the 8 sides having try bonus point wins, with four sides scoring 50 points or more, including leaders Ealing Tfs over Fylde, allowing Coventry Rugby to move up to 3^rd place with the largest score of the day, followed by two of the league strugglers Old Albanian and Darlington MP.

The top three sides are still separated by 9 points with Ealing still unbeaten, although having dropped 3 bonus points.

It is getting increasingly close at the bottom of the league with both Cinderford and Old Albanian winning, and no less than 5 teams separated by only 7 points trying to avoid the two spare relegation spots.

The MOTD turned out to be somewhat of a damp squib as Fylde had no real answer to Ealing Tfs power of the home pack but also their later finishing as they turned the screw. An early penalty try after a scrum set the scene, but a strong home defence forced Fylde to attack from deep. Man of the season and arguably Ealing’s best buy, former Welsh International back Will Harries was a class apart helped by player coach Ben Ward who orchestrated the side from No 10.

If that game was Ealing’s best of the season then so was Coventry Rugby as they took advantage of Fylde’s slip up to take over 3^rd place with a nine try demolition at Tynedale in arguably their best 80 minutes  sustained display of the season. A display that was controlled and efficient with Coventry’s dominant front row leading the way with a hat-trick for Andy Brown. A result that sets up the mouth- watering clash between Coventry and Ealing next Saturday, as possibly being the home side’s most important game in National league 1.

Rosslyn Park remained in sight of Ealing with their own bonus point win at Hartpury College, but a tight first half saw Park put the squeeze on the College in the second half running in two more tries, as their dominant pack took control forcing the College to attack from deep.

The crucial battle to escape relegation saw Old Albanian crush bottom side Macclesfield after another very tight first half. The home side had no answer to the running and effectiveness of the OA side. Three very late tries sealed it for the visitors in a win that finally moves Old Albanian away from the relegation zone, but still on the same points as Loughborough Students in 14^th.

Cinderford finally got the victory, and a bonus one at that with beating Wharfedale at home. A healthy lead 19-3 at half-time gave the home side some comfort and with a new Lead Coach in charge they saw out the second half with a late penalty denying Dale even a losing bonus point. Although still keeping the Foresters in 15^th place it does bring them within 6 points of their opponents who are in 12^th place, but leaves Wharfedale only 1 point ahead of the relegation zone.

Another side needing the win for the same reasons Darlington Mowden Park had an impressive home win over Blackheath. Darlington MP have been threatening to get another large win all season and Blackheath had no answer to their all action game. The bonus point was already earned in the first half with more of the same in the second, although as the fog was so bad it was assumed that Park scored another 4 tries in that half. Although still only 2 points from safety Darlington have already shown in their first season in this league that they should survive, they are just praying that they can keep impressive scrum-half Zylon McGaffin on loan for some time.

A team that has been sucked into the relegation zone somewhat surprisingly after last season is Loughborough Students who lost narrowly at Esher despite leading for most of the match. Finally the dominant home pack gave Esher the lead and despite uncontested scrums late on due to injury and therefore a  man short Esher held on for the win.

The final match saw Richmond hold off a spirited fight back by Blaydon in the second half to just get the win by one point. With the bonus point secured by half-time and leading by 26-7 it seemed all over for Blaydon, but with their experienced front row back in harness the tide began to turn as the home side just held out thanks to a single penalty kick in that half.

Tom Little

Coventry Rugby press office

23^rd November 2014.

Week 12 national league 1 results round up Saturday 22nd Nov

Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 24/11/2014 08:52

Unofficial Coventry Rugby
24/11/2014 08:52

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