Championship Round 8 Review - Issued By The RFU

Coventry 26 Plymouth Albion 10

Phil Maynard’s Coventry heaped further misery on Plymouth Albion at the Butts Park Arena on Friday night as the visitors failed to win for the third successive outing.

Graham Davey`s side are languishing in tenth place in the Championship with only two successes to their name so far and there was little in this showing to suggest that things will improve any time soon.

On a night when both Sean-Michael Stephen and Darren Clayton were sin-binned Albion fell behind to a second minute try from home skipper James Miller. The visitors fought back and drew level with their only try of the night scored by Liam Gibson, but a Joey Carlisle penalty quickly re-established Coventry’s lead.

Miller added a second try before centre Phil MacKenzie effectively settled the contest with number three. A Kieran Hallett penalty for Albion left them trailing 20-10 at the break.

Although they conceded no further tries Albion were unable to increase their points total in the second half and two Joey Carlisle penalties late in the game pushed Coventry out of sight.

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

Albion chairman of rugby Graham Dawe told the Herald,

“ It wasn't a great result but you don't expect too much when you come to Coventry on a Friday night. I thought the effort was there, but we made some costly errors and didn't get enough field position in either half to trouble their defence. It is just something we have got to keep on working on."

He continued, “The current squad of players have got to be with us for the rest of the season – we have got to work on it. Rome wasn't built in a day – we have just got to keep working on it.”

"I am working as hard as I can, we all are. Albion are trying to win rugby matches – this team is trying to be successful. We have just got to keep working for ourselves."

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

Coventry boss Phil Maynard told the Evening Telegraph that he believes his team will soon be playing attractive rugby.

He said,

But we showed all the enterprise, this time it came off, and when it all comes together, and it will, you have got to say we will play some attractive rugby.

“It was a little disappointing that we didn’t get a fourth try for the bonus point, but it’s acceptable after what had gone on in our previous games. The priority was to make sure we won the game and make it difficult for Plymouth to get nothing out of it.

“On balance it was a good performance and now we can start building momentum towards the end of the campaign and the play-offs. Our performance is picking up all the time.”

Full story.. www.coventrytelegraph.net

Doncaster Knights 26 Bristol 22

The Knights upset the formbook at Castle Park on Saturday with only their second win of the season whilst Bristol slumped to a disappointing second defeat.

The Westcountrymen`s disappointing afternoon in South Yorkshire prompted the Evening Post to comment,

“If Bristol didn't already know it, they do now: getting back into the Guinness Premiership at the first time of asking is going to be one mightily difficult challenge.”

“Second best against a side who had not won at home all season going into the weekend, and facing a mounting injury tally, Paul Hull's men look anything but the promotion certainties many had them down as.”

Yet the day started brightly for Bristol as hooker Ross Johnston`s try and an Adrian Jarvis penalty saw them lead 8-0 with just 12 minutes played. But the visitors switched off and Knights fly-half Ali Warnock responded with a converted try and a penalty to put Doncaster ahead.

Jarvis briefly restored Bristol`s lead with a penalty before a second Warnock penalty and a try from scrum-half Chris Hallam, converted by Warnock, propelled the Knights into a 20-11 half-time lead.

Drop goals from Warnock and Steve McColl and two Jarvis penalties kept the match alive at 26-17 whilst a late try from wing Dan Norton brought Bristol back into the hunt at 26-22 as a whopping 13 minutes of stoppage time were played. Yet Bristol were unable to turn pressure into points and skipper Jason Spice commented afterwards, “Far too many times we were all over the show, and that tells me that not everyone is on the same page.”

Match Report.. www.thisisbristol.co.uk

Bristol will go into Friday night`s televised match against Coventry at the Memorial Stadium with a mounting injury list.

Sky Sports will be broadcasting their first live Championship fixture but Paul Hull`s side will be without hooker Ross Johnston who left the field on a stretcher with a leg injury, and back row Redford Pennycook who was taken to hospital with a neck injury.

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

Knights boss Lynn Howells told the Doncaster Star,

“It was a magnificent all-round team performance and our victory was based on our defence and discipline.

"It was the first time this season that the penalty count has been in single figures. It is always going to give you a better chance of winning if you aren't giving three points away at regular intervals.

"As well as our defence beings solid, we also converted the chances, which we haven't been doing for most of the season.”

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

Doncaster Knights prop Toma Toke has been called up for the Tonga squad`s autumn intenationals against Ireland A, Scotland A, and Portugal in November.

Exeter Chiefs 43 Rotherham Titans 10

The Chiefs made it eight wins out of eight as they dispatched the Titans in routine fashion at Sandy Park.

The home side ran in six tries including a hat-trick for Number 8 Richard Baxter as he celebrated his 100 th score for the club.

After a scrappy opening to the contest the Chiefs took the lead with a try from Matt Jess converted by Gareth Steenson. Baxter added his first of the day shortly afterwards and with Steenson again adding the extras the Chiefs had control of the match.

The Titans pack responded with a series of well controlled drives and were rewarded with a try from Sam Dickinson converted by Whitehead. Steenson and Whitehead traded penalties before the break but after half-time the Chiefs cut loose.

As the Titans caved in during the second period Baxter added two more tries with Emyr Lewis and Matt Jess chipping in with one apiece.

Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter told the Western Morning News,

"For me there was a crucial time about five minutes before the end when it just looked like we'd gone a little bit soft. We'd got our 40-odd points, they'd scored ten, and we looked like we could make a choice between letting them run a soft one in or knuckling down and put in a few sets of defence and we defended. To me, that is massive thing.

"They have only scored one try, which I'm still not particularly happy with because it was a very soft try, we didn't work hard enough on the inside of our defence. We looked a bit lazy at times.”

Full story.. www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk

Match summary from the Sheffield Star.. www.thestar.co.uk/rugbyunion

Moseley 17 London Welsh 21

London Welsh continued their good run of form with a hard fought win at Billesley Common against the fast improving Moseley.

The Exiles triumphed by two tries to one in blustery conditions but wasted a hatful of chances to secure a much more emphatic victory. And after all their efforts it needed an injury time try by Dan George to win a game they largely dominated.

Paul Sampson opened the scoring for the Welsh with a 2 nd minute try. Tristan Roberts and Aled Thomas exchanged penalties before Roberts inched the home side ahead with tow more place kicks.

Former Bees full-back Reece Spee raced clear for Moseley`s only try of the game just before half-time and a fourth Roberts penalty in the 45 th minute had Moseley 17-8 ahead against the run of play.

Two Thomas penalties either side of the hour mark dragged the Welsh back into contention on the scoreboard, before George`s converted try at the death settled the affair.

Full story.. www.birminghampost.net

Cornish Pirates 62 Birmingham & Solihull 10

The match report from this website can be found here

The view from the Western Morning News www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk

Meanwhile Bees player coach Russell Earnshaw is due to hold talks with the new owners of Birmingham City FC in a last ditch bid to raise enough funds to stave off liquidation.

He told the Birmingham Post,

“I have got a meeting with Carson Yeung’s right-hand man (Sammy Yu). It’s a real long shot, but I got hold of his mobile number on Friday and rang him, and we will see what happens when we meet.

“We will see if we can offer something that is good for both sides, and City obviously had a fantastic win on Saturday, so I am hoping he is in a good mood!’

Full story.. www.birminghampost.net

And, www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport

Nottingham 30 Bedford Blues 29

Luke Sherriff`s dramatic injury time try converted by Greig Tonks maintained Nottingham`s seven game winning run and broke the hearts of the Blues.

In a game where neither side was able to take control of the scoreboard until the death, Bedford contributed fully to their own downfall with time up as they made a mess of their own lineout ball and gave Sherriff every opportunity to crash over the line from close range. Tonks held his nerve and won the game with the conversion.

In a ding-dong battle the Blues took and early lead through a Pritchard penalty before Tim Streather intercepted on half-way and raced home for Nottingham`s fist try of the afternoon.

Pritchard put the Blues 6-5 ahead with his second kick at goal before Phil Eggleshaw`s try stole it back for Nottingham. James Knight`s converted try clawed the lead back in favour of the Blues, before a Tonks penalty gave Nottingham a 14-12 half-time lead.

The game of nip and tuck continued in the second half and whilst Tonks and Pritchard were busy converting penalty shots offered to them, the Blues scored a second try. This time scrum-half Ian Vass did the honours and with Pritchard gaining the ascendancy in the kicking stakes the Blues led 26-18 and then 29-23 with time almost up, following an opportunist try from Tim Taylor for the home side.

Had the Blues not recklessly overthrown a 5 metre line out at the death to concede the winning score they might have become only the second team to win at Meadow Lane so far this season.

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