Cornish Pirates

Cornish Pirates 24 London Welsh 28

Match report .cornish-pirates.com/match_reports

London Welsh view plus pics www.london-welsh.co.uk

Bedford Blues 33 Rotherham Titans 26

The Blues fought back to overcome a determined Titans side at Goldington Road in a match which turned on the sin-binning of Rotherham skipper Steve Swindall late in the first half.

The Titans led 19-10 at the time but in the absence of their leader shipped twenty unanswered points as their fate in the bottom four of the table was finally sealed.

The Blues were ahead with a Luke Fielden try inside the first minute converted by Pritchard but strong work by the Rotherham pack resulted in a try for Canadian international Adam Kleeberger moments later. Challinor and Burrows added further converted tries for the visitors as the half progressed with Pritchard’s penalty as Swindall departed proving a late riposte for the home side.

Liam Roberts and Ben Lewitt claimed tries for the Blues early in the second half with Pritchard as ever adding the extras. He also added a second penalty to put the Blues 27-19 in front before the Rotherham pack rumbled forward and earned a penalty try on the hour. Whitehead converted and it was game on again at 27-26.

Two late penalties from Pritchard eased Bedford into a seven point lead before a superb Nick Walshe tackle on Whitehead thwarted a certain Titans try at the death.

Full report www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk

Blues chairman Geoff Irvine looks ahead to the play-offs…..

"A lot of credit has to go to Mike Rayer, all of the coaches and, of course, all of the players for their hard work and dedication throughout the season," said Mr Irvine

"We all knew what was going to be happening with the Championship this year and the club has secured an excellent league finish which offers us a great chance in the play-offs.

"Our supporters are also massively important with their vocal support and we will be relying on them to give the lads the extra boost on the field during these crucial play-off games.>

"Many of the clubs in the Championship realise just how important these play-offs are regardless of whether ground specification allows them to joint the Premiership. That was abundantly clear on Saturday when Rotherham came to Goldington Road and fought tooth-and-nail to finish in the top eight.

"A change in the rules means that the losing side in the play-off semi-final walks away with 70 per cent of the gate money. This may have put a few peoples' noses out of joint but a £50,000 cash boost to the defeated side could really make a huge difference to their budget for the following season and would only strengthen competition in our league

"Likewise, if we did make the two legged final then we could stand to make around £150,000 and that is the difference between making a loss over the season or breaking even

"I think that these play-offs are going to be hugely entertaining. We've already had mixed results and performances against all of the teams in our pool. Bristol's visit in September was a thrilling encounter but the former Premiership club pipped us to the win by a single point

"We have also recorded one win and one defeat against both Plymouth and Cornish Pirates. I'm sure that Mike and the boys will want to make up for the narrow defeat against the Pirates at Camborne Rec and the disappointing loss against Plymouth just before Christmas

"To say that these games are 'dead rubbers' couldn't be further from the truth and I hope that all of our fans get behind the team as they try to make history by claiming the first ever Championship."

Doncaster Knights 13 Plymouth Albion 20

Plymouth Albion plundered the spoils and secured a place in Pool A of the Championship play-offs with a strong display at Castle Park on an afternoon of brutal tension.

With Moseley beating Bristol at Billesley Common Albion had to win to avoid the relegation scrap and took the lead in the first minute through Ben Mercer’s try. Kieran Hallett extended the lead to 8-0 with a penalty after 11 minutes but the rest of the first half remained scoreless as Doncaster struggled to get going.

Ali Warnock’s penalty early in the second half briefly gave the Knights some momentum before Albion took control again with a second try this time from Sione Tu`ipulotu on 49 minutes.

Fellow centre Keni Fisilau then added a third touchdown and Albion were on their way leading 20-3. Late pressure from the home team was rewarded with a penalty try 12 minutes from time and a Warnock penalty right at the death ensured that Doncaster held on to 7^th place in the table courtesy of a losing bonus point.

Match report www.thisisplymouth.co.uk

Graham Dawe`s reaction www.thisisplymouth.co.uk

Lynn Howells told the Sheffield Star, "We knew that Plymouth would be charged up for the game, and they were. They scored an early try which boosted their confidence. For some reason we just didn't turn up on the day.

It certainly wasn't a good game to watch and we didn't play nearly as well as we've been playing. We got dragged into a game that we didn't want to get involved in and there was lot of kicking which we have got away from in recent weeks. They were the better side and deserved to win."

Exeter Chiefs 62 Birmingham & Solihull 12

The Chiefs predictably blew away the challenge of the Bees with a ten try display including a hat-trick for Mark Foster.

The home side led 41-7 at half-time as they made light of a pitiful challenge from the relegation-bound visitors.

Match report www.birminghammail.net

Moseley 30 Bristol 25

The Midlanders proved at last that they can put an 80 minute performance together as they beat a strong Bristol side at Billesley Common. It came too late to prevent them being consigned to the relegation play-offs but left Bristol head coach Paul Hull far from happy.

He told the Evening Post, “I`m very disappointed. It looked like there were players out there who were probably looking forward to the play-offs rather than doing their jobs on the pitch, which was unfortunate.”

"A couple of players hadn't played for a couple of weeks – but that's no excuse, because we've had a good season and they should be match-hardened now and raring to go.

"I'm disappointed with that aspect. I can't speak for the players, but if there was one eye on the play-offs, we got our wake-up call here.

"Hopefully we can turn things round – and it's not the end of the world. We're not a bad team overnight – but it's a simple game. You have to go forward and win collisions – and we weren't doing that."

Bristol fought back from being 10-0 down after just seven minutes with tries from Tom Arscott, Luke Eves and Dan Norton but still trailed 21-18 at the break after tries from Trinder and May coupled with 11 points from the imperious boot of Tristan Roberts.

Roberts struck again with a fourth penalty before Arscott scored Bristol`s fourth try converted by himself for a 25-24 lead with 15 minutes to play.

But two more late penalties from Roberts sealed a big win for Moseley which unltimately meant so little.

Match report www.birminghammail.net

Nottingham 37 Coventry 20

The Green and Whites eased past their opponents from the Butts Park Arena on Saturday winning the try-count 6-2 but Coventry will be more concerned over a late shoulder injury to skipper Aaron Carpenter.

The influential Canadian international has to be a doubt for his club`s opening play-off fixture at Rotherham this weekend after an afternoon in which he scored a try and was also sin-binned.

Only 790 hardy sould turned up at Meadow Lane for a mmatch which Coventry led 13-12 at the break. But a powerful second half display from Nottingham produced tries for Jackson, Johnstone and a brace from flying machine Tim Streather as they prepared to face Exeter on Sunday in some style.

Match report www.thisisnottingham.co.uk

Coventry concerns www.coventrytelegraph.net