Blues Thrash Cov

Bedford Blues thrashed Coventry 42-6 at Goldington Road on Saturday with a five-try second half power play to maintain their 100% record.

The Midlanders were still in the hunt at half-time trailing 13-6 after an opening period which saw three yellow cards issued by Referee Michael Tutty. The Blues lost lock Paul Tupai and Number 8 Chris Goodman to the bin whilst Coventry found themselves without prop Dai Maddocks for ten minutes.

Burke’s early try for the home side was followed by a brace from Tupai and one apiece for Pritchard, Goodman and Davies as the home side ran riot.

Match report.. www.bedsonsunday.com

Coventry director of rugby Phil Maynard told the Coventry Evening Telegraph that the result had left him “surprised and annoyed.”

“By our own standards it was a very poor display,” admitted Maynard after watching his side concede 29 unanswered points in the second half to a home side who scored six tries and were superior in every department on the day.

“From one to 22, nobody played well – we just didn’t fire against a very confident side and made it easy for them.

“At half-time I thought we were still in with a chance, but we had been tactically naive in the first half and consequently couldn’t apply pressure in the areas of the field we needed to.

“They play their pitch very well, and we helped them to control the game with our lack of penetration and incisiveness, and by giving the ball back to them so readily. I thought we would play a lot better than that after winning our first game.”

Nervy Bristol Edge Sharmans Cross Thriller

The surprise result of the weekend came at Sharmans Cross Road where injury ravaged Birmingham & Solihull made Bristol scrap every inch of the way to a narrow 40-36 win.

Although never ahead in the game themselves the Bees scored three tries through Connolly, Spee and Martin with the boot of fly-half Mark Woodrow briefly levelling the contest at 23-23 early in the second half.

Bristol scored three tries in each half through Montagu, two from Adams, Spice, Norton and a penalty try.

Match report.. www.birminghampost.net

Bristol coach Paul Hull told the Evening Post that his team`s opening two matches in the Championship have left him concerned about their level of performance.

He said,

"It's a weird feeling, having a bonus-point win and being disappointed, but we are disappointed with the performance – we let ourselves down in certain areas. We made handling errors and we lacked urgency.

They seemed to win those 50-50 balls on the ground and they had that bit of bite. We were second to that bounce of the ball and second to those 50-50s, and that concerns me.”

"We'll have to look at that and speak about it on Monday to find out why we were so lethargic and didn't have that urgency. We just didn't look sharp.”

"We know it's going to be tough and we've had two wins out of two – but this was a day where it didn't work for us. We're only two games in and we're still working, but the performance concerns me."

Chiefs Punish Indisciplined Knights

Exeter Chiefs inflicted a second successive defeat on Doncaster Knights at Sandy Park winning 32-20 largely due to the boot of fly-half Gareth Steenson.

The former Cornish Pirates player completed a 22 point haul with the boot including six penalties as the Knights frequently transgressed at the breakdown.

Doncaster took an early lead with a penalty try after sustained pressure from their big pack but tries just before the break from Matt Jess and Josh Matavesi pushed the Chiefs ahead.

The visitors scored a second try after 52 minutes through Bevon Armitage but were ultimately left counting the cost of poor discipline and the decision to repeatedly kick away good possession.

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

And www.drfc.co.uk

Moseley`s “Non-Performance” At The Rec

The match report for this game is on the reports page of this website but The Birmingham Post took a dim view of Moseley`s contribution to the game, as did their coach Ian Smith.

He said,

“I said at half-time there were some big reputations at stake,” he roasted.

“Some are just not performing and that is what we have got to get to the bottom of.

Whether they understand their roles or are not happy, we have got some honest discussions to have.”

Full story..www.birminghampost.net

Delaney Gets His Win

Nottingham returned to winning ways after last Sunday`s defeat to the Pirates downing London Welsh at Meadow Lane23-16.

The Exiles grabbed an early lead through a penalty before hooker Tom Youngs scored the home side`s first try

. Two Greig Tonks penalties extended the lead to 13-3 whilst at the other end Aled Thomas missed two kickable chances. However he made no mistake with a try scoring opportunity just before the break.

A converted try from Nic Rouse and another Tonks penalty gave Nottingham a 15-point advantage at 23-8 before the Welsh tested home nerves with a late try from Sampson and an even later penalty.

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

Albion Disappoint In Yorkshire

Rotherham Titans bounced back from a disappointing defeat at Coventry to comfortbaly ease past Plymouth Albion 29-16.

The Titans led 26-3 at the break following tries from Wackett and Burrell whilst fly-half Jonny West added two conversions, three penalties and adrop goal for good measure. A Kieran Hallett penalty was the sole reply for Albion.

After the break West added a further penalty to extend the lead to 29-3 before two penalties from Hallett and a late converted try from Marriott restorted a level of respectability to Albion`s efforts.

Match report.. www.thestar.co.uk/rugbyunion

In further news from Clifton Lane The Star reports, “Rotherham Titans have suffered a serious blow after only one league game of the new Championship season.

Fly-half and skipper Michael Whitehead will not only miss the home match against Plymouth but the next game against promotion favourites Bristol too. The Roth number 10 has damaged a hamstring which he originally hurt in pre-season.

The injury became far worse in the opening Championship game at Coventry last Friday.

"I pulled the hamstring during the first 10 minutes. It's my fault because I came back too early," he said. "I'll be out for the next two or three weeks; my aim is to play again against London Welsh at Clifton Lane at the end of the month."

Meanwhile in the Plymouth Albion camp Graham Dawe was left lamenting a poor first half display at Clifton Lane.

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