Nottingham 46 Rotherham Titans 0

In Friday evening`s match Nottingham claimed their sixth win on the trot punishing a mediocre Titans side with a seven-try display.

The home side scored at regular intervals throughout the match never allowing the Titans to build any pressure of their own. On the few occassions they did threaten a solid home defensive wall forced errors and turnovers.

The only disappointment on the night for Nottingham will be the attendance – just 1,049.

Match report.. www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/rugby

The Sheffield Star was scathing in its criticism of the Titans. It said,

“Rotherham's players let themselves down and their coaching staff, to whom they should apologise, after a mediocre and weak performance at Meadow Lane last night.

Rotherham's worst display of the Championship season so far resulted in their fourth defeat in six league games, and any repeat against Bedford and Exeter during the next fortnight will indicate that the Titans will plunge into deep trouble.”

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

Bedford Blues 53 Birmingham & Solihull 25

Bedford wing Ian Davey claimed four of his team’s eight tries at Goldington Road on Saturday but it was their defensive display against bottom of the table Bees which caused concern.

Although the Blues were never in danger of losing the contest Russell Earnshaw`s patched-up side gave a good account of themselves with three tries of their own, as the Blues` tackling faltered during the second half.

Home fly-half Brad Davies told Bedfordshire on Sunday,

“ We’re not completely happy with that performance but we will take the result. Our defence was a little under par today and full credit to Birmingham because they threw the ball about a bit and made a game of it. We’ll take the five points and move our attention onto next week.”

Full story.. www.bedsonsunday.com

Earnshaw summed up the game from a Bees perspective when he told the Birmingham Post,

“It is small margins, particularly in the last five minutes of each half was where we missed tackles and turned the ball over. I’m proud of the boys, it is strange because they have scored 50 points but I’m quite happy.”

Full story.. www.birminghampost.net

Doncaster Knights 14 Coventry 17

The Knights` winless start to the season continued with their sixth straight defeat as they crashed at home to Coventry.

Lyn Howells` side may have picked up their first point of the campaign courtesy of a losing bonus point but they squandered a 14-10 lead going in to the final quarter and then missed a penalty deep into stoppage time, which would have levelled the scores.

Coventry took a fifth minute lead through wing Romain Plantey`s converted try and increased their lead as George Crook added a penalty in the 18 th minute. Replacement fly-half Steve McColl touched down for the Knights before penalties from Warnock either side of half-time pushed the Knights into a four point lead.

And that was how the score stayed until Coventry prop Dai Maddocks scored on the hour with Russell adding the extras to retake the lead.

Chances for the home side were few and far between in the final quarter as Coventry killed the contest as a spectacle. Warnock`s missed penalty at the death serving to compound the frustration at Castle Park.

Match report.. www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk

Knights director of rugby Lyn Howells told the Doncaster Star,

“It was very disappointing. We tried to force the game too much in the first half. We tried to offload the ball in stupid places. We had scoring opportunities in their half but we turned the ball over.

"In the second half we just fell off too many first-up tackles. You've got to make those tackles, otherwise you are just giving your opponents easy metres. I still think that we are lacking in confidence. We showed in parts that we are able to play the game.”

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

Exeter Chiefs v London Welsh

The Chiefs equalled their best ever start to a league season claiming their sixth successive scalp with a hard-fought 13-9 win against a dogged Welsh side.

Once again the Chiefs were indebted to the trusty boot of fly-half Gareth Steenson as his second penalty five minutes from time proved decisive.

The Welsh took the game to the hosts from the outset testing the Chiefs defensive organisation thoroughly. The scores were locked at 3-3 until first half-stoppage time when hooker Neil Clark finished off a period of good pressure from the home pack to burrow over the line for the only try of the game. Steenson converted for a 10-9 interval lead.

Two penalties from Aled Thomas early in the second half reduced the arrears to a single point but the lead was denied them as he missed a third attempt at goal. It was left to Steenson to restore order for the Chiefs with his late penalty after Thomas had been penalised in front of his own posts.

Match report… www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk

Chiefs Head Coach Rob Baxter was delighted with his team’s display. He told the Western Morning News,

“We talked a lot during the week about defence and relishing defending – and I think it was almost like we wanted to give them the ball because we wanted to defend at times today – but I think some of our defensive sets, particularly in the second half were as good as I've seen from us for two years.

We kind of built a brick wall across the pitch. We were winning turnovers, we were winning knock-on, that side of our game again I think we have ticked another box. We almost looked impregnable at times.”

Moseley 26 Plymouth Albion 15

Just one week after strangling the life out of the Cornish Pirates at Brickfields Plymouth Albion were undone by a resurgent Moseley side.

Despite an early try from Sean – Michael Stephen converted by Kieran Hallett, Albion struggled to contain a powerful display from the home pack conceding tries from David Lyons and Neil Mason late in the first half.

Moseley stretched their 20-10 interval lead with two penalties from Tristan Roberts before Gary Kingdom touched down for Albion two minutes from time.

Match report.. www.birminghampost.net

Albion chairman of rugby Graham Dawe told The Herald afterwards,

“Moseley played very similar in our 22 as Bedford did – it is a bit of an Achilles heel with us at the moment.”

"They seemed to lie in our tackle area, slow our ball up quite easily and we didn't seem to slow up their tackle ball enough. Although I felt we dominated the game first half, we didn't, ultimately, score enough points and come the end of the game, you are not going to have as many points as the opposition."

He added,

"But we would be the first to admit that we didn't bring enough to the game to win an away game. It is easy to talk about it, but it is no secret that is very hard to win away from home. There will always be a reason why it is hard – the opposition are the main factor – but something has to give."

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

Cornish Pirates 13 Bristol 35

The Pirates' match report can be found here

Bristol Head Coach Paul Hull told Pirates TV after the match,

“It was a tricky fixture for us. This is not an easy place to come and win and the conditions were difficult with the swirling wind and the wet. We laid the foundations in the first half but I was really pleased with the second half and we finished strongly.”

He continued,

“We tried to play too much rugby in the first half and in the second we went for more field position and cut down the handling errors. It gave us the position to attack deeper into the Pirates territory and we got our rewards from that. There were some stern words at the break but the boys reacted really well.”

All credit to the team. We were disappointed last week after the loss to Exeter so to bounce back like that was really pleasing. It was a good away win. We’ll have a couple of days off now and then come back again strongly against Moseley as we lost last time at home.”

Bristol fly-half Adrian Jarvis told the Evening Post,

“We got our tactics right in the second half. We tried to play a bit too much in the first half and made a few mistakes. We'd been talking all week about cutting down the turnovers – and at half-time we had to speak about that again because we'd made too many.”

He continued,

“But, in the second half, there were probably one or two and that was crucial for us in terms of building pressure and then scoring the tries."

Full story.. www.thisisbristol.co.uk