Championship Round 9 Review - Issued By The RFU

Bristol 46 Coventry 28

Bristol put the disappointment of Doncaster behind them with an eight-try thumping of Coventry on Friday night in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

The Midlanders chipped in with three tries of their own and were very much in the hunt trailing 27-21 early in the second half before three further tries from the home side finally turned the tide.

Wing Tom Arscott bagged a hat-trick of tries inside 31 minutes as the Bristol backs tore into Coventry with a vibrant display of attacking rugby. Such was the spectacle that Nick Cain writing in the Rugby Paper was moved to comment,

“It was much looser than the Premiership for sure, but there was something refreshing at the speed at which the ball was recycled, from the tackle, the absence of choking flat line defences, and players prepared to attack space from anywhere. More please.”

Match report…www.thisisbristol.co.uk/bristolrugby

Bristol head coach Paul Hull told the Evening Post that despite the win he wasn`t taking anything for granted.

He said, “We wanted to transfer some of the good work we've been doing in training on to the pitch – and that certainly showed during the first 40 minutes.

"We're a bit disappointed to have conceded three tries, though, because that takes the gloss off what was a very good performance.

"We have to keep on building – and we won't get carried away with this, but we know we're where we want to be after the Doncaster loss. That's the way we want to play. I'm really pleased with some aspects of our attack and set-piece – but there are still a few areas we've got to keep working at."

Full story.. www.thisisbristol.co.uk

Meanwhile Coventry director of rugby Phil Maynard blamed the tempo of Bristol`s start to the game for his side`s defeat.

He told the Coventry Telegraph,

“It was the quickest 10 to 15 minutes I’ve ever had in the Championship. We came up against a brick wall.”

“Bristol had had a tough week after losing at Doncaster, they had a lot to prove to justify their £2 million playing budget and we knew it was never going to be anything but tough.”

“But that said, we just didn’t come out of the blocks and they shouldn’t have been able to break us down off first phase, which was what was happening. We have got to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

“The squad knows that our first half was poor. We were under pressure in the scrum and didn’t contest the tackle area the way we should and as a consequence there were far too many turnovers .

Another concern for Maynard is that on-loan fly-half Joey Carlisle twisted a knee during the first half and could be a doubt for Friday nights visit of London Welsh to the Butts Park Arena.

Full story..www.coventrytelegraph.net

Bedford Blues 11 Exeter Chiefs 20

Bedford Blues stumbled to their second successive defeat at Goldington Road as Exeter Chiefs extended their winning run to nine matches.

The Chiefs took an early stranglehold on the game with first half tries from Thomas and Steenson, both of which were converted by the Irish fly-half. A James Pritchard penalty right on the stroke of half-time was all Bedford could muster in the first period.

However after the break Pritchard struck again before an Ollie Dodge try after 52 minutes reduced the deficit to three points.

Crucially Pritchard missed the conversion and despite having to play much of the latter stages on the counter-attack two further penalties from Steenson killed off any hopes of a home revival.

Match Report.. www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk

Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter told the Western Morning News,

“ Bedford is a difficult place to go and win, and not a lot of teams manage it. We built this up to be a big game in the squad, for various reasons. We wanted it to be a pressure game for us, so we can get used to playing in difficult environments and difficult situations, because that is what is going to happen at the end of the season.

"I think we have come through a really tough old battle. It wasn't a perfect game of rugby by any means, both sides made mistakes, but that will happen in a big pressure game at the end of the season.”

Full story.. /www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk

Birmingham & Solihull 16 Moseley 23

A crowd of over a thousand descended on Sharmans Cross Road as the re-born Bees locked horns with their rivals from Billesley Common.

On an afternoon of great passion and commitment from both sides the Bees battled their way to a 13-6 interval lead following a ninth minute try from Ronniw McLean converted by Simon Hunt.

Hunt added a brace of penalties matched by the same from Moseley`s Tristan Roberts but when lock Stuart Ault was sin-binned late in the half. Moseley finally got into the game.

Two tries early in the second period from Mason and Bressington, both converted by Borgen, swung the pendulum in Moseley`s favour. Hunt then clawed three back with a third penalty as the visitors were forced onto the back foot late in the game.

Borgen`s second penalty in the 79 th minute finally killed off the Bees.

Bees skipper Matt Long told the Birmingham Mail,

“We knew that they would come out firing and we had to match them because if we didn’t they would have walked all over us, just like any team would.”

“We were a bit flat before the game and I was a bit worried but, in fairness, we flicked the switch when we came out and we met fire with fire.”

“We have a lot of young lads who haven’t even played the level below this. So they did well to step up on to what is quite an intimidating stage for a 19 or 20-year-old.

There was a lot going on today, some of which I’ve not seen for a very long time.”

Full story.. www.birminghammail.net

London Welsh 9 Doncaster Knights 20

The recent revival at Old Deer Park stuttered abruptly to a halt as Doncaster Knights extended their recent winning run to three.

The Knights had the perfect start as wing Matt Williams seized on a well-placed grubber kick from Warnock to touch down after just four minutes.

Warnock`s conversion and penalty later in the half maintained a 10-6 lead at the break as Aled Thomas struck two penalties for the Welsh.

The Knights increased their lead straight after the restart as Warnock struck again before the telling play of the game in the 53 rd minute as the Welsh continually collapsed a series of 5-metre scrums and Referee Greg Garner awarded a penalty try.

Warnock added the extras and despite a third penalty from Thomas the Yorkshiremen held out for a notable victory.

Full story.. www.thestar.co.uk/rugbyunion

Plymouth Albion 31 Nottingham 25

The shock of the weekend came at Brickfields where supposedly struggling Plymouth Albion stunned much fancied Nottingham scoring five tries in the process.

Nottingham can cite injuries as the reason for their defeat but Graham Dawe`s men have had their backs against the wall recently following a string of poor performances, making this result even sweeter for the Devon club.

Albion raced to a 17-6 half-tme lead through tries from Fisilau, Mercer and Cushion but Nottingham were a different proposition after the break.

Tries from Johnston, Sammons and Streather made a real game of it as Albion added two more of their own from Stepehn and Hallett. The visitors ended the match camped in Albion territory but unable to turn pressure in to points.

Afterwards Nottingham director of rugby Glenn Delaney told the Evening Post,

“We weren't good enough. We didn't apply ourselves and we made a huge amount of errors.

"We didn't get through phases and didn't execute anything. We made big errors at the wrong times."

Match report.. www.thisisnottingham.co.uk

Albion director of rugby Graham Dawe, who became the first 50 year-old to play in the Championship, told The Herald,

“We did have a bit of a wobbly spell midway through the second half, but thankfully we came through it on the right side and we squeezed out the win.”

"We actually started the game a bit tentatively. We made a few errors but the players' heads did not drop. Kieran (Hallett) kept the boys at it and they came through. I thought our tackling was much-improved."

Full story.. /www.thisisplymouth.co.uk

Rotherham Titans 29 Cornish Pirates 20

Match report from this site is here Rotherham v Pirates

Western Morning News report.. www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk

View from the Sheffield Star.. www.thestar.co.uk