Championship Round 7 Review - Issued By The RFU Wednesday October 21, 2009

Bristol 19 Moseley 9

Bristol edged past Moseley in a tense Friday night fixture at the Memorial Stadium. The home side only managed one try in the game, scored in first half stoppage time, but it proved decisive on a night dominated by the goal-kicking of Adrian Jarvis and Tristan Roberts.

Three first-half Roberts penalties had the Midlanders leading 9-3 until Tom Arscott`s try just before the break. Jarvis converted and home nerves began to settle slightly with a 10-9 lead.

Bristol targeted the Moseley scrum after the break earning three more penalties all slotted by Jarvis. Ali Muldowney wasted a late chance to score for the visitors but Bristol held on to a win described by the Birmingham Mail as “mundane”.

Match Report.. www.birminghammail.net

Bristol head coach Paul Hull praised his fly-half Adrian Jarvis after the match calling him a “leader”.

He told the Evening Post, “ He's a leader for us – he's organising our attack, he's a leader in training and he's having a good partnership with Jason Spice.You've seen that, with a bit of consistency, he's starting to really lead the team well.

"That's showing in his kicking and also in his direction of our game-plan. I'm really pleased with Jarvis and that partnership he is building with Spice."

Full story.. www.thisisbristol.co.uk/bristolrugby

Coventry 13 Nottingham 18

In Friday evening`s other match Coventry went down at home to the Green and White`s in a scrappy error-strewn encounter.

The home side finally broke through the well organised Nottingham defence with a try from Dai Maddocks after 21 minutes. Apikotoa missed the conversion and Coventry`s wastefulness with the boot throughout the night ultimately proved costly.

Despite a faltering lineout Nottingham took the lead after half an hour with a try from Nirmalendran converted by Tonks. The centre then added a penalty to give them a 10-5 half-time lead.

Replacement full-back Andrew Forsyth touched down early in the second half to increase the lead but Coventry flanker Jamie Miller replied with his team`s second try of the night three minutes later.

Taylor and Hayes traded late penalties but Nottingham held on for their sixth win in a row.

Match report.. www.coventrytelegraph.net

The Nottingham Evening Post reports that Nottingham are the latest team to suffer a mounting injury list after this hard fought battle against Coventry.

With Andy Savage and Jack Cobden sidelined the club were forced to take young wing Andrew Forsyth on an emergency loan from Leicester Tigers. During the match they then lost full-back Dave Jackson, prop Matt Parr and scrum-half Tim Usasz.

Full story.. hwww.thisisnottingham.co.uk/rugby

Birmingham & Solihull 22 Exeter Chiefs 51

The Bees remain rooted to the bottom of the Championship table after shipping seven tries in a routine victory for the Sandy Park side.

It took Rob Baxter`s much changed team just four minutes to break the deadlock with a converted try from centre Paul McKenzie. A further try from Chris Budgen and a Danny Gray penalty quickly followed before the Bees replied in the 26th minute with a try from Mitch Culpin converted by Halavatu.

The Chiefs predictably hit back with two further tries before the break from Matavesi and Marsden, both converted by Gray, for an unassailable 29-7 interval lead.

Tom Hayes, Richard Bolt and hayden Thomas all added further tries before the Chiefs relaxed late in the game allowing Rod Petty and Cameron Mitchell to cross the whitewash for the Bees and ease the home blushes.

Match report.. www.birminghampost.net

Despite the result Rob Baxter was unhappy with the way his side started and finished the match. He told the Western Morning News,

“I was slightly disappointed that in the first 15 minutes of the game we got caught up in the way Birmingham wanted to play, but we got hold of that for 40 minutes during the middle of the game and made it about us.”

"I'm slightly disappointed we conceded a couple of soft tries in the last 20 minutes, but by then we had a lot of tired players who are not match fit and haven't had much game time dropping off things a bit.”

"If you are going to select a side like we did on Saturday you've got to accept that and take it on the chin, you can't expect a guy who hasn't played for six months to run out and play 80 minutes and not fade towards the end.”

"I said to the guys after the game that it takes a lot of running to score 50 points, if we were cramping towards the end it's not an issue for me at the moment. The benefits of what we're doing won't be seen today, they'll be seen later in the season."

Full story.. www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk

London Welsh v Cornish Pirates

Match report can be found here

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

Plymouth Albion 6 Doncaster Knights 21

A dire performance from Albion at Brickfields handed the struggling Knights their first win of the season and left Graham Dawe`s troops in 10 th place ahead of a tough trip to Coventry on Friday night.

The home crowd had little other than two first half penalties from Kieran Hallett to cheer them as the Knights, who fielded former Cornish Pirates coach Brett Davey, eased ahead in the second half with a penalty try and a second touchdown from Number 8 Andy Boyde. Fly-half Ali Warnock then added a drop goal 3 minutes from time to compound Albion`s misery further.

Plymouth also lost Tongan centre Sione Tuipulotu with a knee injury early in the second half.

Match report.. www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/albion

Albion chairman of rugby Graham Dawe was clearly disappointed with his side. He told The Herald,

“We got field position at the start and we controlled the game for a bit, but not for any continuity. There was no continuity in our game and throughout the game we failed to win any quick ball for whatever reason.

"We had a good start to the second half, but it was the same old story – we never won two quick tackle areas in a row and we were getting turned over. We then got sucked in for a penalty try, which was quite a big call, and that was the game.

"Doncaster are big and physical and a very strong side with a lot of power. They are not a bad team. I know they hadn't won up until Saturday, but they have got some pretty good players.

"Adam Kettle and Ngalu Tau came back, they are very astute at 10 in Ali Warnock and Hudson Tonga'uiha in the centre caused us a lot of problems."

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

Knights boss Lyn Howells told the Doncaster Star,

"I don't think that we've been as bad as our record would suggest and we could have won two or three of the six games we've lost. We just didn't take our chances at times and our confidence was low.”

"I probably expected that we'd get our first win at home, so it's a big result to get off the mark at a place like Plymouth where we'd won only once in four previous visits. It was the manner of the win which pleased me more than anything - our forwards dominated the game, especially in the first half.”

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

Rotherham Titans 25 Bedford Blues 27

Bedford Blues broke the hearts of most of the thirteen hundred strong crowd at Clifton Lane as prop and former Titan Sam Walsh chose the 80 th minute to score his maiden try for the Goldington Road side.

James Pritchard`s conversion sealed the victory and Bedford had suceeded in digging themselves out of a very big hole in Yorkshire as they narrowly avoided a third defeat.

Titans fly-half Johnny West was in fine form with the boot contributing 20 points. Number 8 Steve Swindall added a first half try and the Titans led 16-7 at the break.

But not for the first time this season they ultimately let a half-time lead slip at home and the Blues fought back to lead 20-19 with ten minutes to go after a Dorrian try and two penalties and a conversion from Pritchard.

West restored the home advantage with two further penalties of his own before Walsh`s agonising intervention at the death.

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

And.. www.thestar.co.uk