SATURDAY 21st JANUARY 2006

Pertemps Bees 26 (Tries: Billig (58), Orgee (80). Cons: Harvey 2. Pens: Walsh (44), Harvey 3 (56, 71, 79). 

London Welsh 10 (Tries: Ritchie (36), Fitzgerald (80). 

The Bees closed the gap on London Welsh to two points with this home win. In the first half there was just the one score with hooker Chris Ritchie touching down in the 36th minute as the Welsh led 5-0 at the break.

In the second half Tim Walsh slotted over a penalty goal in the 44th minute to get the home side off the mark. Ben Harvey kicked the home side in front on 56 minutes after coming on as a replacement for scrum half Paul Knight. And two minutes later they went further ahead with a try from centre Adam Billig and Harvey converted. Harvey added a couple more penalties in the 71st and 79th minutes as the Bees went into a 19-5 lead.

The Welsh did score a second try with flanker Matt Fitzgerald touching down for an unconverted try.

It was the home side though who had the final say with replacement Ed Orgee going over deep into injury time and Harvey converted.   

Nottingham 21 (Tries: Duffey (48), Jackson (52). Con: Stenhouse. Pens: Stenhouse (61, 67). DG: Stenhouse (76). 

Plymouth Albion 15 (Tries: Rice (30), Lowrie (79). Con: Saumi. Pen: Saumi (4).  

Plymouth Albion slip to fifth in the table after this defeat at Nottingham who move up to seventh spot in the table.

In the first half it was Albion who got on the scoreboard with Nat Saumi putting over an early penalty goal. On the half hour mark prop Martin Rice went in for the games first try and Saumi converted and the Albion went in 10-0 ahead at the break.

It took the home side eight minutes to get on the scoreboard in the second half with hooker Joe Duffy going over and Neil Stenhouse converted. Four minutes later they took the lead with right wing David Jackson going over for a try to make it 12-10. Stenhouse then kicked a couple of penalty goals in the 61st and 67th minutes to open up an 18-10 lead. He then dropped a goal as the home side extended their lead. With normal time nearly up the visitors got a second try to claim a losing bonus point as replacement back row man Chris Lowrie touched down.

Exeter Chiefs 31 (Tries: R Baxter (20), Barrett (40), Ward (46), Kingdom (76). Cons: Yapp 4. Pen: Yapp (66). . 

Doncaster 5 (Try: Riley (53). 

Exeter Chiefs are up to sixth in the table after this home win over Doncaster.

It took the home side 20 minutes to get on the scoreboard with No 8 Richard Baxter going over for a try and Tony Yapp converted.

The second score came in injury time when scrum half Kevin Barrett went over the visitor’s line and again Yapp converted for a 14-0 half time lead.

The Chiefs went further ahead six minutes into the second half when full back Stephen Ward got their third try and Yapp again converted. Doncaster got off the mark on 53 minutes when left wing Matthew Riley, on his debut, touched down.

Yapp kicked a penalty for the home side before they got the bonus point try in the 74th minute with left wing Gary Kingdom going over for his 7th try of the season and Yapp converted to make it five out of five for the afternoon.

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Otley 24 (Tries:  Stockdale (16), Luffman (78). Con: Shuttleworth. Pens: Shuttleworth 4 (20, 28, 32, 46). 

Coventry 27 (Tries: Moore (1), Booth (35), T Johnson 2 (57, 80). Cons: Moore 2. Pens: Moore (68) 

Excellent away win for Coventry at Cross Green over Otley.

The visitors were ahead in the first minute when wing James Moore went over for a try and a 5-0 lead.

The home side took the lead in the 16th minute when flanker Matt Stockdale went over for a try and Ian Shuttleworth, in the absence of Simon Binns, slotted over the conversion. Shuttleworth then kicked Otley further ahead with three penalty goals in 12 minutes to lead 16-5 after 32 minutes. It was Coventry who got the final score of the half with a second try as the right wing Steve Booth touched down to go in six points down at the break.

Shuttleworth made it a nine point lead six minutes into the second half but just before the hour mark they were right back in the match with flanker Tom Johnson going over and Moore converting.  10 minutes later and Moore gave Coventry the lead with a penalty goal. Hooker Mark Luffman went over for a 78th minute try and must have thought that was the winning score as the home side led 24-20. Deep into injury time and the visitors snatched the win with Johnson going in for his second try of the match and Moore added the extras. 

Earth Titans 41 (Tries: Strettle (10), Claassens (29), Blackett (40), Jonker (45), Donald (80), Pienaar (80). Cons: Strauss 4. Pen: Strauss (15) 

Cornish Pirates 7 (Try: Ma’asi. Con: Barlow.) 

Great win for the Titans over second placed Cornish Pirates out scoring them six tries to one to move above Plymouth Albion into fourth place in the table. 

The home side were on the scoreboard in the 10th minute when right wing David Strettle went over for a try converted by WP Strauss who five minutes later made it 10-0 with a penalty goal.  

The Pirates were back in it on 20 minutes when hooker Viliami Ma’asi went over and Tom Barlow converted. Two tries late in the half from full back and Eric Claassens and centre Lee Blackett saw the home side go in 22-7 ahead.

Just five minutes into the second half and the bonus point was secured with scrum half Morne Jonker going over and Strauss added the extras.

They did manage two more tries in injury time at the end of the match from forwards Scott Donald and Attie Pienaar.

Sedgley Park 29 (Tries: De Jager (12), Feeley (18), Albinson (40). Con: Jones. Pens: Jones 4 (4, 36, 40, 49). 

Bedford Blues 45 (Tries: Penalty try (40), Kettle (45), Moir (47), Tonga’uiha (58), Hepher (59), Dickson (80). Cons: Hallett 2, Hepher 4. Pen: Hallett (39).    

Bedford Blues went into second spot in the table after this away win at bottom of the table Sedgley Park. It was the home side though who had the best of the first half leading the Blues 26-10. There were tries for centre Arno De Jager right wing John Feeley and scrum half Jamie Albinson whilst Phil Jones added 11 points with the boot. For the visitors Kieran Hallett kicked a penalty and converted a penalty try.

The second half was a different story as the Blues got out of the blocks quick with two tries in the opening eight minutes of the second half with flanker Adam Kettle and wing Craig Moir touching down whilst Hallett and Ali Hepher adding the conversions.  

Jones then kicked a penalty for the home side to give them a five point lead. Tries either side of the hour mark saw the visitors pull away into a 38-29 lead. They wrapped up the win in injury time when replacement Karl Dickson went over and Hepher converted as the Blues went second in the table with the Cornish Pirates losing at Earth Titans.

Newbury 25 (Tries: Carter (16), Bingham (52), Hart (75), Bell (77). Con: Roberts. Pen: Rogers (34).  

Harlequins 57 (Tries: Fuga (1), Brown 2 (7, 41), Robshaw (12), Easter 2 (21, 66), So’oialo (30), Keogh 2 (38, 47), Cons: Mehrtens 6.  

Quins were quick out of the blocks in this match with three tries in the first 12 minutes to go into a 17-0 lead. There were tries for hooker Tana Fuga, full back Mike Brown and flanker Chris Robshaw whilst Andrew Mehrtens added a conversion.

Newbury manage to stem the flow of points with a try of their own in the 16th minute from prop Simon Carter but before the break the visitors had run in three more tries to open up a 38-8 lead.

They passed the 50 point mark early in the second half with two more tries as Brown and left wing Simon Keogh completed doubles. After this the home side held the visitors to just one more try whilst scoring three themselves. Keogh is now one behind Richard Welding in the try scoring list with 11 and flanker Nick Easter is just one behind Keogh as he reached double figures with a double.     

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