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RUGBY Unplugged picked up the Championship pace and brought you a weekly round-up of all the match action from week 10 onwards of the 2009-10 season.
The Championship’s play-off format changed halfway through its first season after the RFU’s management board backed calls for a two-leg, home and away final to maximise income for clubs participating in the Guinness Premiership’s feeder division.
The clubs called for the planned play-off finale at Twickenham on May 8 2010 to be dropped and a two-leg final will be played on back-to-back with live TV coverage by Sky Sports.
RFU board chairman Martyn Thomas, confirming the change of play-off format, said: "The Championship is proving to be a tightly fought and exciting league, with an average of five tries per match and overall attendance up by 30 per cent on last year.
"The play-off system will ensure a suitable climax to its first season with the ultimate prize of promotion to the Guinness Premiership.
"We have listened to what the clubs want and there will, therefore, be a two-legged final with the winner decided on aggregate score.
“That will generate optimum revenue for the finalists and maximise attendances for what should be two great games."
Once the round-robin stage of the Championship is completed, the top eight clubs go through the knock-out stages with the eighth-placed club visiting the top-of-the-table side, seventh travelling to second and so on at the quarter-final stage.
The end-of-season seedings which determine the home sides in the last-eight stage also dictate which clubs get home advantage at the semi-final stage.
The change of final format has been welcomed by the Championship clubs, despite that fact that whoever wins promotion to English rugby’s top league at the end of the season will not get the chance to seal their triumph on the hallowed turf of HQ.
And it has done little to water down the action in what proved to be a hugely competitive competition.
For the RFU Championship Play-Off fixtures, click below:
FINALS
BRISTOL RUGBY 10-29 EXETER CHIEFS 
MEMORIAL STADIUM – Wednesday 26th May 2010
Attendance: 11,850
GARETH Steenson kicked Exeter Chiefs into the Guinness Premiership for the first time and admitted: "It's a dream come true to be part of history."
Steenson, who had given the Chiefs a 9-6 victory in the first leg at Sandy Park, broke Bristol hearts with a near perfect haul. The fly half's golden right boot landed six penalties and two goals before Simon Alcott's late try on Bristol's home turf to win the inaugural RFU Championship title.
He continued in the same vein as seven days earlier at Sandy Park, punishing Bristol for their ill discipline and kicking the Chiefs into a 6-0 lead.
Bristol hit back when Adrian Jarvis squeezed through a gap and Luke Arscott took the pass to race home for brother Tom to convert.
But it was small respite from Steenson's lethal boot and the Ulsterman kicked two more penalties, including a 53-metre effort, and a drop goal as Exeter's composed forwards continued to hammer the Bristol line.
Bristol recovered and countered and almost broke through but Exeter held out for a 15-7 half time lead.
Exeter almost got on the try sheet themselves early in the second half when Steenson ran the ball out of his own 22 and Mark Foster and Matt Jess made 60 metres between them before they were tackled and Bristol killed the ball in the process.
The Chiefs spurned a penalty chance to go for a try and kill the game off but Bristol defended superbly from the line out and pulled back three points with a Jarvis penalty.
Jarvis hit the post with another penalty and when Redford Pennycook was penalised for a shoulder charge, Steenson made no mistake before adding his second drop goal.
Alcott sealed victory with the final move of the game as he crashed over for video ref Geoff Warren to confirm the try. Not that there was any doubt, but Exeter win 38-16 on aggregate.
Amid jubilant scenes at the Memorial Stadium Steenson said: "It's a dream come true to play Premiership rugby - it's what I've striven for over the past four or five years and to achieve that, well words can't describe it. Everyone has worked so hard for the past year and you saw tonight with the fans how much it means to everybody involved with the club."
Bristol Rugby
T: L Arscott
C: T Arscott
P: Jarvis
Exeter Chiefs
T: Alcott
P: Steenson 6
DG: Steenson 2
EXETER CHIEFS 9-6 BRISTOL RUGBY
SANDY PARK – May 19th 2010
Attendance: 10, 021
EXETER fly-half Gareth Steenson kept his nerve to give Exeter Chiefs a slight edge in the race for a Guinness Premiership with an 80th minute penalty at a packed Sandy Park which saw the home side take a 9-6 aggregate lead into the second leg of the RFU Championship final.
Steenson clipped the ball through the Bristol posts to give the home side the home first-leg verdict after the visitors led a tense encounter twice ahead of the second leg at the Memorial Stadium on Both clubs have satisfied the minimum criteria for admission to the Guinness Premiership next season, making the second leg worth around £2million to the winners in terms of potential revenue.
Exeter spent most of the first half camped in Bristol territory but they were unable to break down the visitors’ defence in a tie which saw no tries scored.
Exeter led 3-0 early on thanks to the first of Steenson’s three penalties while Bristol had the edge in terms of try-scoring chances with full-back Luke Arscott’s chip ahead almost setting up a score for Lee Robinson thanks to his brother, winger Tom Arscott, but were denied by Phil McKenzie’s tackle.
Bristol finally got on the score-sheet with an Adrian Jarvis penalty to make it 3-3 at halftime and they came out firing early in the second half when wing Mark Foster ’s pace was enough to prevent Luke Arscott chalking up a chip-and-chase try.
Jarvis then kicked Bristol into a 6-3 lead and Steenson responded to level it up at 6-6 going into the last 15 minutes.
Twice in the closing stages, referee Dave Pearson consulted TMO Geoff Warren to verify try claims but Luke Arscott was deemed to have been beaten to the ball beyond the Exeter line.
And the home side was denied a potentially crucial try claim when the TV evidence made it impossible to confirm that he had got the ball down after an impressive drive from the Chiefs pack.
Exeter Chiefs
P: Steenson 3
Bristol Rugby
P: Jarvis 2
SEMI FINALS
BRISTOL underlined their Guinness Premiership ambitions by seeing off London Welsh by three tries to two at the Memorial Stadium to book their place in the Championship’s two-legged final.
If Bristol had any doubts about the task facing them in a dangerous one-off tie, the Exiles made that clear with a try just 37 seconds after home fly-half Adrian Jarvis got the tie under way.
Wing Lee Robinson ran the ball out of his own 22 and when full-back Luke Arscott tried to go for distance Dominic Shabbo charged his kick down and streaked away to score under the posts with Aled Thomas adding the extras.
Adrian Jarvis got Bristol on the board in the 11th minute with a penalty, but the visitors continued to take the game to them and they extended their lead to 10-3 with a Thomas penalty in the 26th minute.
But Bristol responded four minutes later, shunting the Welsh pack back with a ferocious line-out drive to set up a try for lock Roy Winters with Jarvis’s conversion wiping out the Exiles’ lead and when centre Junior Fatialofa got the ball down under the posts, Jarvis added the extras to give Bristol a 17-10 interval lead.
Jarvis kicked Bristol 13 points with two penalties early in the second half and Lee Robinson stormed over in the corner from 25 metres out for a third try in the 62nd minute before the visitors had the last word with a consolation try in the 70th minute from wing Errie Claassens.
Exeter Chiefs will host the first leg of the final on Wednesday 19th May after they booked their place in the two-legged showdown by thumping Bedford Blues 37-8, scoring five tries at Sandy Park in front of a 4,500-strong crowd.
Exeter wasted no time getting their noses in front with a try from wing Mark Foster after just two minutes with fly-half Gareth Steenson landing the conversion but Steenson missed out on the extras when number eight Tom Johnson set up their second try for prop Brett Sturgess.
Blues fly-half Myles Dorrian slotted a penalty to get Bedford on the board in the 14th minute but Chiefs loose-head Hoani Tui capitalised on almost incessant pressure on the Blues at scrum to chalk up the Chiefs third try with Steenson adding the conversion and a penalty to make it 22-3 after 27 minutes.
Steenson added another penalty before the interval to extend Exeter’s lead to 22 points and when Foster’s early second-half break set up a try for centre Bryan Rennie, the Blues were down and out although they grabbed a consolation try courtesy of wing Ian Davey before McKenzie put the finishing touch on the Chiefs’ win with try number five in stoppage time.
RESULTS
Friday 7th May 2010
Bristol Rugby 28-15 London Welsh
Saturday 8th May 2010
Exeter Chiefs 37-8 Bedford Blues
PLAY OFFS
AFTER the Round 6 matches, Bedford Blues, Bristol Rugby, Exeter Chiefs and London Welsh qualified for the semi finals as follows:
Friday 7th May 2010
Bristol Rugby vs London Welsh
19:45pm Memorial Stadium
(Live on Sky Sports HD)
Saturday 8th May 2010
Exeter Chiefs vs Bedford Blues
15:00 Sandy Park
Coventry will be relegated subject to final confirmation by the RFU Management Board.
WEEK 6
BRISTOL and Exeter Chiefs stayed on course for a two-legged Championship promotion final with promotion to the Guinness Premiership at stake after the West Country clubs booked home semi-finals from their respective promotion pools with comprehensive wins over the Cornish Pirates and Nottingham, respectively.
The Pirates saw their chance of snatching a semi-final play-off place evaporate when they were hammered 60-15 in Camborne by a rampant Bristol side, who ran in ten tries in a one-sided affair to confirm their position as the top seeds in Pool A.
Scrum-half Jason Spice, centre Luke Eves and James Merriman scored try doubles and Alex Crockett, Lee Robinson, Dan Montagu, James Phillips all ran in a try apiece to see Bristol turn a 34-10 half-time lead into a rout, while the outgunned Pirates mustered a try apiece from Steve Winn and Rob Elloway in reply.
Pool A winners Bristol’s semi-final opponents on Friday 7th May will be Pool B runners-up London Welsh, who booked their trip to the Memorial Stadium with a 31-14 win over hosts Doncaster Knights at Castle Park.
Tries from Chris Whitehead, Erie Classens and Paul Sampson with fly-half Aled Thomas kicking a conversion and a penalty earned the Exiles a 20-0 half-time lead and two Thomas penalties and a second try from Sampson sealed their win after the break.
Doncaster fought back with a Neil Cochrane touchdown and a penalty try with James Brooks kicking two conversions to pull the game back to 23-14 before Welsh stitched up their win.
Exeter, meanwhile, put Nottingham to the sword at Sandy Park, notching touchdowns from hooker Neil Clark and prop Hoani Tui and a penalty try in the first half of a 53-10 rout of outclassed Nottingham with Johnson, wings Matt Jess and Mark Foster and full-back Phil Dollman scoring after the break.
Nottingham, who spent most of the match chasing shadows, grabbed a late consolation score in the shape of a penalty try.
The Chiefs’ reward is a home semi-final against Pool B runners-up Bedford Blues, who beat Plymouth Albion 35-19 at Goldington Road.
Bedford only needed a point to wrap up a semi-final spot, but they ran in four tries to claim a bonus-point victory with centre Ollie Dodge bagging a brace while Sacha Harding and Duncan Taylor also got their names on the score-sheet with second-half touch-downs.
Albion’s points came from a Tu’ipulotu try and the conversion and four penalties from Alex Davies.
Coventry were the unlucky side in the Pool C relegation battle with their 38-12 home defeat by Rotherham Titans condemning them to the drop.
Moseley, meanwhile, grabbed two points – a four-try bonus and a losing bonus – in a 38-34 home defeat by Birmingham & Solihull, which saw both clubs do enough to retain their Championship status for next season.
RESULTS
Promotion Pool A
Saturday 1st May
Bedford Blues 35-19 Plymouth Albion
Cornish Pirates 15-60 Bristol
Promotion Pool B
Saturday 1st May 2010
Exeter Chiefs 53-10 Nottingham
Doncaster Knights 14-31 London Welsh
Relegation Pool C
Saturday, 1st May 2010
Coventry 12-38 Rotherham Titans
Moseley 34-38 Birmingham & Solihull
WEEK 5a
MOSELEY guaranteed Championship rugby at Billesley Common next season with a Pool C relegation play-off match to spare after they chalked up a five-try, 37-5 bonus-point win over Midlands rivals Coventry.
Hapless Coventry were reduced to 14 men for the final 15 minutes of a game which proved to be a one-way contest, losing props Dai Maddocks and Jamie Hall to injuries with the match already over as a contest.
Lock Ali Muldowney grabbed two first-half tries to put Moseley in the driving seat inside the first half-hour and fly-half Tristan Roberts, who had missed both conversions, added a penalty before half-time to send the home side in 13-0 ahead.
After the break, Roberts ran in two tries and replacement James Rodwell touched down with Roberts converting all three scores and adding a penalty to put the outcome beyond any doubt before Ollie Grove grabbed a consolation try for Coventry.
Coventry’s final Pool C match pits them against Rotherham Titans, who are already safe, and a win would make sure they survive with bottom-of-the-pool relegation favourites Birmingham & Solihull, facing a trip to Coventry, where anything but a win would send the Bees down.
RESULT
Relegation Pool C
Saturday 24th April 2010
Moseley 37-5 Coventry
WEEK 5
BRISTOL made sure of a Championship promotion play-off semi-final spot with a game to spare six-try 41-32 bonus-point 41-32 Pool A home victory over battling Bedford Blues, who need just one point from their final pool match against Plymouth Albion to join Bristol in the last four.
Bedford left the Memorial Stadium with a try-scoring bonus point after they trailed 24-3 at half-time and responded superbly to push their hosts all the way after the break, only missing out on a second bonus when fly-half Miles Dorrian missed a stoppage-time conversion.
Tries from scrum-half Jason Spice, Junior Fatialofa, Roy Winters and three conversions and a penalty from Adrian Jarvis had Bristol in the driving seat at the interval which arrived with Dorrian’s early penalty the only score on the board for the visitors.
After the break, tries from Fatialofa, Adrian Jarvis and Lee Robinson proved enough to win the match for Bristol but Bedford hit back with five tries of their own from Duncan Taylor, Sam Walsh (2), Dorrian and Luke Fielden to underline their determination to make the play-offs.
Plymouth Albion, who had no chance of making the play-off semi-finals themselves, scuppered Cornish Pirates’ hopes of staying in the play-off race with a tight 19-14 home win which left the Pirates an insurmountable seven points behind of Bedford.
The Pirates led 7-6 midway through the first half with a Holmes pushover try and Jonny Bentley’s giving them the edge after Alex Davies kicked two early penalties for Plymouth but by half-time, the home side was 16-7 up after Ben Mercer grabbed the first try of the contest with Davies adding the conversion and another penalty.
After the break, Davies stretched Albion’s lead with a penalty before the Pirates came roaring back with a converted try from Bentley to pick up a losing bonus-point but they ran out of time and were unable to overhaul the home side.
In Pool B, Exeter Chiefs and London Welsh are still neck and neck in the race for a home semi-final after the Exiles beat the Chiefs at Esher to leave the two separated by just a point with a game apiece to go and the Pool B qualification race, where all four teams are covered by five points, still wide open.
Danny Gray’s early penalty for Exeter was cancelled out quickly by opposite number Aled Thomas but Welsh were behind again after Matt Jess touched down for Exeter until a converted penalty try got them back on terms.
Ferocious pressure from Exeter late on with Exiles wing Paul Sampson in the sin bin then produced the space for Foster to dive over at the death but Gray’s missed conversion attempt saw him squander the chance to give Exeter the win which would have booked them a semi-final place with a game to spare.
So, Doncaster Knights and Nottingham are still in with a mathematical chance of making the semi-finals after the Knights beat Nottingham 25-14 at Meadow Lane to throw Pool B wide open going into the final round of matches.
The Knights opened the scoring with an eight-minute Andy Wright try converted by James Brooks but Greg Tonks then ghosted through the Knights defence with Dave Jackson converting to level it up.
An unconverted Bevon Armitage try made it 12-7 to the Knights and they turned that into a 19-7 lead with two Dougie Flockhart penalties.
With ten minutes to go, a second Andy Wright try and Brook’s conversion tied the game up for Doncaster but Nottingham finished strongly, running in a try from centre Tim Streather with Savage adding the conversion to suggest that they will be no pushovers in their final Pool B match against Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park.
In Pool C, Rotherham Titans were already safe from the threat of relegation before they went down to a surprising 33-29 defeat by a Moseley side scrapping tooth and nail for survival, at Clifton Lane.
Three penalties from Tristan Roberts and converted tries from Andrew Reay and Nathan Bressington opened up a commanding 23 point lead for Moseley with only 20 minutes gone as the Titans faltered in the early stages.
Matt Challinor dragged the Titans back into the game before half-time though with two great finishes with Mike Whitehead converting one to narrow the deficit to 11 points at the interval.
Whitehead added a try of his own early in the second half and Nick Buckley converted to narrow the gap even further and when Ross Batty got the Titans’ fourth try with Whitehead converting, it was anybody’s game.
Both teams then went down to 14 men when first Reay and then Batty were sin-binned, but Moseley made the most of the extra space to wrap up their win with tries from Alistair Muldowney and Rupert Harden despite Ryan Burrows adding a late try for the Titans.
Coventry, meanwhile, will be looking to make the most of their game in hand against Moseley next week to improve their chances of survival after they pulled off an against the odds 38-35 win over Birmingham & Solihull at Sharman’s Cross Road.
Tries from Phil Mackenzie, Jo Merrigan, Nathan Jones, Fangatapu Apikotoa and Dai Maddocks earned them a potentially priceless win with Apikotoa kicking four conversions and a penalty and another conversion coming from Ben Russell.
The Bees, now bottom of the pool, with one game to play against Rotherham, mustered a losing bonus point and a try-scoring bonus point with two tries from Simon Hunt and one each from Adam Clayton and Anthony Elliott, all converted by Hunt.
RESULTS
Promotion Pool A
Friday 16th April 2010
Plymouth Albion 19-14 Cornish Pirates
Sunday 18th April 2010
Bristol Rugby 41-32 Bedford Blues
Promotion Pool B
Saturday 17th April 2010
London Welsh 16-15 Exeter Chiefs
Sunday 18th April 2010
Nottingham 14-25 Doncaster Knights
Relegation Pool C
Saturday 17th April 2010
Rotherham Titans 29-33 Moseley
Birmingham & Solihull 35-38 Coventry
WEEK 4
BRISTOL and Bedford Blues both have a foot apiece in the RFU Championship play-off semi-finals after wins over Plymouth Albion and the Cornish Pirates, respectively, left them sharing the lead in Pool A with 14 points apiece and a five-point cushion over the third-placed Pirates.
At the Brickfields, Bristol romped to a five-try, 38-7 bonus-point win, although Plymouth were still in the contest at half-time after a James Phillips try, the conversion and a penalty from Adrian Jarvis had earned Bristol a 10-0 lead.
It was a different story after the break, though, with Bristol running in a brace of tries from Junior Fatialofa, a second try from Phillips and the clinching touchdown from Lee Robinson, while Plymouth had to settle for a converted consolation try from centre Matt Hopper.
Bedford gave their push for a semi-final spot a terrific boost with a comprehensive 42-18 bonus-point win over the Cornish Pirates to avenge their 22-18 defeat in Camborne a week earlier.
Luke Fielden and Myles Dorrian both scored two tries and James Pritchard also crossed the Pirates’ line to leave Bedford behind Bristol in the pool standings by virtue of points difference.
Exeter Chiefs, meanwhile, tore Doncaster Knights apart at Sandy Park on their way to an eight-try, 51-15 bonus-point win which opened up a four-point cushion over Nottingham at the top of Pool B.
Ex-Newcastle full-back Steve Jones grabbed two second-half tries for the Chiefs, who also ran in tries from Rich Baxter, Tommy Hayes, Neil Clark, Phil Dollman, Simon Alcott and a penalty score, while Doncaster had to settle for tries from scrum-half Nicky Griffiths and hooker Steve Lawrie and a conversion and a penalty from fly-half Ali Warnock.
Nottingham stayed in second place in the Pool B standings, a point ahead of London Welsh after the Exiles exacted revenge for their 29-12 defeat at Old Deer Park with a potentially crucial 17-10 return win over their hosts at Meadow Lane.
Fly-half Aled Thomas and Paul Mackey grabbed tries for the Exiles with Thomas kicking both conversions and a penalty to edge them home while Dave Jackson kicked an early penalty and converted Tom Youngs’ late second-half try to make sure Nottingham picked up a losing bonus-point which could be important in the final pool reckoning.
Rotherham Titans guaranteed their Championship rugby at Clifton Lane next season with a 29-19 away win over Birmingham & Solihull, securing their fourth Pool C bonus-point win on the bounce, which left their empty-handed hosts firmly embroiled in a three-way battle to avoid the drop.
Mike Whitehead put the Titans ahead with an early penalty, but the Bees hit back with a try from Rob Connolly but a yellow card for Alex Davidson and a subsequent penalty try for the Titans saw the Yorkshire side bit the front again and two tries before half-time from Andrew Henderson and Neil Buckley had Rotherham firmly in the driving seat by half-time.
A try from Anthony Elliott dragged the Bees back into the contest but Ryan Burrows grabbed the bonus-point try for Rotherham before Ed Binham snatched a consolation score for the home side.
Bottom two Moseley and Coventry will play their outstanding Pool C fourth-round play-off fixture on Saturday, 24th April.
RESULTS
Promotion Pool A
Saturday 10th April 2010
Bedford Blues 42-18 Cornish Pirates
Plymouth Albion 7-38 Bristol Rugby
Promotion Pool B
Saturday 10th April 2010
Exeter Chiefs 51-15 Doncaster Knights
Sunday 11th April 2010
Nottingham 10-17 London Welsh
Relegation Pool C
Sunday 11th April 2010
Birmingham & Solihull 19-29 Rotherham Titans
WEEK 3
CHAMPIONSHIP promotion favourites Bristol went back to the top of the Pool A play-off race with a comfortable 15-3 win over Plymouth Albion, who now look to be out of the promotion reckoning after three straight defeats, at the Memorial Stadium.
Man-of-the-match award-winning flanker Redford Pennycook got Bristol on the board with their first try in the sixth minute and the conversion and a penalty from Adrian Jarvis had the home side 10-0 up at the interval.
After the break, fly-half Alex Davies got Plymouth on the board with a penalty but a second unconverted touchdown from wing Lee Robinson sealed the home side's second play-off win.
Bedford Blues slipped off top spot when they were beaten 22-18 by Cornish Pirates in a nail-biter in Camborne ahead of the return match at Goldington Road this weekend which will see the winners left to take the fight to table-topping Bristol.
Tries from Luke Fielden and Paul Tupai helped Bedford take an 18-10 lead before the break but the Pirates chipped away at the deficit before Gavin Cattle, who had scored the game’s opening try in the third minute, spotted a gap in the Blues’ defence at a penalty and darted over for the winning try.
Despite a massive effort deep in stoppage-time, Bedford were unable to snatch a winning try which would have given them pole position in Pool A at the halfway stage in the play-offs.
Pool B has been reduced to a two-horse race between table-topping Nottingham, who now head the pool on points difference, and Exeter Chiefs with both sides four points clear of the pursuit after they chalked up valuable away wins.
Nottingham grabbed a bonus-point 29-12 win over London Welsh, who dropped to the bottom of the table, at Old Deer Park, where tries from Tom Youngs, Sam Harrison, Ed Slater and Tom Cassons with Dave Jackson kicking three conversions and a penalty proved enough to outscore their hosts. Fly-half Aled Thomas kicked four penalties for the beaten home side.
Exeter, meanwhile, beat Doncaster Knights 21-19 at Castle Park, thanks to a late Danny Gray penalty which saw them edge their way to a valuable win after mustering tries from Bryan Rennie and Nic Sestaret with Gray converting one and kicking three penalties in total.
The Knights replied with tries from Ollie Goss and Andrew Wright and three penalties from fly-half James Brooks.
In the relegation scrap, Rotherham Titans look to have guaranteed their safety by chalking up a third successive bonus-point win to top Pool C with maximum points after a 33-20 win over Birmingham & Solihull at Clifton Lane saw them open up a seven-point cushion over the second-Bees.
Ryan Burrows, Andrew Henderson, a penalty score and Kevin Maggs scored the Titans’ tries with Anthony Elliott, Ben Patston and Tinus du Plessis touching down for Birmingham.
Coventry, meanwhile, are a point ahead of Moseley in the basement battle after a narrow 6-3 home win over their relegation rivals which saw two penalties from Fangatapu Apikotoa edge Coventry home with Tristan Roberts replying with a lone three-pointer for Moseley.
RESULTS
Promotion Pool A
Saturday 2nd April 2010
Bristol Rugby 15-3 Plymouth Albion
Sunday 3rd April 2010
Cornish Pirates 22-18 Bedford Blues
Promotion Pool B
Saturday 3rd April 2010
Doncaster Knights 19-21 Exeter Chiefs
London Welsh 12-29 Nottingham
Relegation Pool C
Saturday 3rd April 2010
Coventry 6-3 Moseley
Rotherham Titans 33-20 Birmingham & Solihull
WEEK 2
Bedford Blues threw the cat amongst the RFU Championship promotion pigeons with a stunning 17-16 win over Bristol at Goldington Road to go three points clear at the top of Pool A and relegate pre-play-off promotion favourites Bristol to third place in the standings.
Brendan Burke scored both of the Blues tries in a display laced with determination, passion and desire which saw Bedford contain a second-half revival from Bristol to chalk up a potentially crucial win.
Full-back James Pritchard gave Bedford the lead in the third minute and Bristol fly-half Adrian Jarvis missed a chance to cancel that out in the 13th minute , setting the tone for what followed which saw Burke score twice in the space of five minutes to lead 17-3 at the interval after Jarvis hit the target with a penalty.
Jarvis cut another three points off the Blues’ lead early in the second half, Redford Pennycook’s short-range try and Jarvis’ conversion made it 17-13 and a Jarvis penalty with minutes from time set up a grandstand finish that saw Bedford hand on for a famous victory.
Cornish Pirates, beaten in their opening game at the Memorial Stadium, took full advantage of Bristol’s slip-up with a 17-0 home win over Plymouth Albion to climb into second place in Pool A on points difference, courtesy of tries from Blair Cowan and Johnny Bentley with full-back Rob Cook kicking both conversions and a penalty in a contest which produced no second-half scoring.
The Pool B play-off contest was thrown wide open with all four teams covered by one point after home wins for Doncaster Knights and Exeter Chiefs, who had both lost their opening play-off games, over first-up winners Nottingham and London Welsh.
Doncaster overpowered Nottingham at Castle Park, where Ian Johnstone`s converted try gave the Green and Whites a flying start before Bevon Armitage to replied for the home side with James Brooks` conversion levelling it up.
Brooks and Dave Jackson then exchanged penalties before wing Oli Goss scored a second try for the Knights after 18 minutes to give them a 15-10 lead. Brooks` second penalty after 49 minutes extended the home lead before Nic Rouse claimed Nottingham’s second try of the game to make it 18-15.
Then, five minutes into stoppage time, Simon Grainger muscled over the Nottingham line for the winning score with Brook converting to wrap it up for the Knights, who are only bottom of the standings by virtue of points difference.
At Sandy Park, three tries in the final six minutes from Exeter saw the Chiefs ease to a flattering 32-6 bonus-point win over London Welsh to go top of the pool ahead of the Exiles.
The game was in the balance at 13-6 to Exeter after an early Gareth Steenson penalty and a converted try from Neil Clark had been pegged back by two Aled Thomas penalties.
But Tom Johnson grabbed a second Exeter try in the 74th minute and the floodgates opened allowing James Scaysbrook and Neil Alcott to touch down in the closing minutes with Steenson converting both tries.
Rotherham Titans took a big step towards survival in the Pool C relegation battle with a 30-29 win at Moseley at Billesley Common, storming back from 29-10 down early in the second half to snatch a dramatic victory with a 75th minute Mike Whitehead penalty.
Whitehead put the first points on the board for Rotherham with a second-minute before Andy Reay and Craig Voisey exchanged converted tries. Moseley then ran in three tries in ten minutes from Chevvy Pennycook, Tristan Roberts and Justin Mensah-Coker with two conversions giving them a 26-10 interval lead.
Roberts stretched the home side’s lead just after the break but Neil Chivers, Jon Feeley and Ross Batty all claimed tries as the Titans stormed back into the game.
Coventry, meanwhile, are bottom of the relegation scrap after a 22-18 home in the Butts Park Arena defeat by Birmingham & Solihull, who won for just the third time all season to go second in the Pool C standings, keeping alive their hopes of avoiding the drop.
Rob Connolly’s 16th minute converted try got the Bees going before James Hall replied with the first of three Coventry tries and Simon Hunt increased the visitors’ lead with a try under the home side’s posts.
Henno Venter reduced the arrears to 10-14 three minutes before the break only for Connolly to claim his second score in first-half stoppage time.
After the break, a Ben Russell penalty and a well-taken try from Phil MacKenzie dragged Coventry back to within a point but Simon Hunt’s 67th minute penalty wrapped it up for the Bees.
RESULTS
Promotion Pool A
Saturday 27th March 2010
Bedford Blues 17-16 Bristol Rugby
Sunday 28th March 2010
Cornish Pirates 17-0 Plymouth Albion
Promotion Pool B
Saturday 27th March 2010
Doncaster Knights 25-15 Nottingham
Exeter Chiefs 32-6 London Welsh
Relegation Pool C
Saturday 27th March 2010
Coventry 18-22 Birmingham & Solihull
Moseley 29-30 Rotherham Titans
WEEK 1
RFU Championship promotion favourites Bristol kicked off their play-off campaign in nervous style with a 19-12 Friday night win over an injury-hit, but spirited, Cornish Pirates side at the Memorial Stadium to take pole position in Pool A.
The home side grabbed the only try of the contest in the 11th minute when back-rower Iain Grieve crashed over to finish off a catch-and-drive from the Bristol pack and fly-half Adrian Jarvis, who had earlier exchanged penalties with Pirates full-back Rob Cook, added the conversion.
Leading 10-6 at the interval, Bristol saw a Cook penalty cut their lead to a point early in the second half before two Jarvis penalties eased Bristol back into a seven-point lead which Cook cut to 16-12, giving the visitors a chance to stage a grandstand finish.
But Jarvis eased Bristol into what proved to be a winning position with his fourth successful penalty of the night with five minutes to go.
Plymouth Albion, meanwhile, were edged out 10-9 at home by Bedford Blues in a tight encounter at the Brickfields the following afternoon.
Plymouth dominated the first-half but a try from Paul Tupai in the 72nd minute, converted by James Pritchard, who had already kicked a penalty, earned the Blues a valuable away victory.
The hosts could have pinched it at the end, but Alex Davies missed two penalty attempts including a last-gasp effort that hit the post and deflected wide.
Exeter Chiefs, tipped as potential play-off finalists, came a cropper in their opening Pool B fixture at Nottingham on Sunday afternoon, going down 20-9 – a setback which leaves the fancied Devon side playing catch-up if they are to make next month’s two-legged promotion showdown.
Gareth Steenson kicked three first-half penalties to give the pre-match favourites a 9-5 half-time lead after Nottingham winger David Jackson grabbed the only try of the opening 40 minutes.
Tries after the break from Tim Streather and Petrus du Plessis, with Jackson converting the second touchdown, then stretched the Meadow Lane side’s lead before Jackson slotted the match-clinching 65th minute penalty.
London Welsh, however, top Pool B after they opened up with a 26-10 win over Doncaster Knights at Old Deer Park 24 hours earlier, where two tries from Paul Sampson set the Exiles up for a precious bonus-point victory.
Sampson’s brace helped Welsh build a 12-0 at the break and Errie Claassens added a third try for the home side before Bryn Griffiths burst clear to keep Doncaster hopes alive, but the Exiles were home and dry when Lee Beach ghosted through a huge gap in the visitors’ defence.
In the Pool C relegation contest, Rotherham Titans hammered visiting Coventry 29-3 at Clifton Lane to claim a four-try bonus point and lay down a strong marker in their fight to avoid the drop.
Titans’ Canadian international, flanker Adam Kleeberger grabbed two tries and set up his side’s second touchdown for Michael Whitehead after the break and former Scottish international Andrew Henderson centre sealed Rotherham’s win five minutes from time.
Elsewhere, Birmingham & Solihull won the Sharman’s Cross Midlands derby comfortably, beating Moseley, who had beaten Bristol just a week earlier, 24-7 to grab a precious bonus-point win.
Tries from Aly Muldowney, who crossed the Moseley line twice and one apiece from wings Anthony Elliott and Simon Hunt were enough to get the Bees’ survival scrap off to an encouraging start.
RESULTS
PROMOTION POOL A
Friday, 19th March 2010
Bristol 19-12 Cornish Pirates
Saturday 20th March 2010
Plymouth Albion 9-10 Bedford Blues
PROMOTION POOL B
Saturday 20th March 2010
London Welsh 26-10 Doncaster Knights
Sunday 21st March 2010
Nottingham 20-9 Exeter Chiefs
RELEGATION POOL
Saturday 20th March 2010
Birmingham & Solihull 24-17 Moseley
Rotherham Titans 29-3 Coventry
WEEK 23
RFU Championship promotion favourites Bristol, predictably, finished top of the regular season and grabbed pole position in the play-offs but their regular season campaign finished on a low note with a deflating 30-25 defeat at relegation candidates Moseley.
The West Country side scored four tries with Dan Norton, Tom Arscott (2) and Luke Eves all crossing the Moseley line with fly-half Adrian Jarvis kicking a penalty and a lone conversion.
But spirited Moseley led 21-18 on their way to a win which came courtesy of touchdowns from Gloucester loan duo Henry Trinder, Jonny May and 20 points from the boot of fly-half Tristan Roberts.
There was no slip-up from second-placed Exeter Chiefs, who handed bottom-of-the-table Birmingham & Solihull a 62-12 hiding at Sandy Park top keep their promotion hopes on the boil with a morale-boosting win ahead of the play-offs.
A 3,500 crowd watched the Chiefs run in nine tries with wing Mark Foster bagging as hat-trick while Neil Clark, Haydn Thomas, Steve Jones, James Scaysbrook, Gareth Steenson and Nic Sestaret touched down one apiece with Steenson adding six conversions in a one-sided contest.
All of the Bees points came from Anthony Elliott, who scored two tries and converted one.
London Welsh made sure of third place with a hard-earned 28-24 win over the fourth-placed Cornish Pirates, who had already qualified comfortably for the play-offs, in Penzance, where the Exiles blasted back from 24-6 down at half-time to come out on top.
The first 40 minutes saw the Pirates rattle up two tries from Nick Jackson, one from Tongan Aisea Havili and three conversions and a penalty from Rob Cook, while London Welsh mustered two penalties from full-back Ed Lewis-Pratt.
After the break, though, Welsh conjured up tries from Nathan Bonner-Evans, Charlie Gower and Ben Thomas with Lewis-Pratt and Gordon Ross kicking a conversion apiece before Ross clinched London Welsh’s victory with a late penalty.
Bedford Blues clinched fourth place and consigned Rotherham Titans, despite salvaging try-scoring and losing bonus points, to the relegation play-offs with a 33-26 win at Goldington Road.
The home side trailed 10-9 at the interval in an enthralling contest but tries from Luke Fielden, Liam Roberts and Ben Lewitt and three conversions and four penalties from the boot of full-back James Pritchard proved enough to pip the Titans, who came up with touchdowns from Adam Kleeburger, Matt Challinor and Ryan Burrows and a penalty try with three conversions from Mike Whitehead.
Nottingham’s 37-20 win over second-bottom Coventry changed neither club’s situations with the home side already safely in the promotion play-offs and the visitors resigned to the scrap to avoid the drop.
Craig Hammond, Jack Cobden, David Jackson and Ben Johnston ran in a try each and Tim Streather touched down twice in a comfortable home win for the Green and Whites.
Plymouth Albion, meanwhile joined seventh-placed Doncaster Knights in the promotion play-offs after a tense 20-13 away win over the Knights at Castle Park, which saw Graham Dawe’s men do just enough to finish two points above the relegation play-off bubble.
Ben Mercer, Sione Tu'ipulotu and Keni Fisilau bagged Albion’s tries with Sean Hallett kicking a conversion and a penalty to give the West Country side a 20-3 lead early in the second half before Doncaster hit back to grab a losing bonus point.
RESULTS
Saturday 13th March 2010
Bedford Blues 33-26 Rotherham Titans
Cornish Pirates 24-28 London Welsh
Doncaster Knights 13-20 Plymouth Albion
Exeter Chiefs 62-12 Birmingham & Solihull
Moseley 30-25 Bristol Rugby
Nottingham 37-20 Coventry
WEEK 22
CHAMPIONSHIP table-toppers and short-odds title favourites Bristol flexed their muscles in impressive style at Old Deer Park to put third-placed London Welsh’s promotion hopes firmly into context on their way to their 18th win of the season a professional era club record 12 wins on the bounce.
With seven minutes played, Exiles fly-half Aled Thomas cracked over a penalty to level it up at 3-3, cancelling out an early Adrian Jarvis drop-goal but from then on its was one-way traffic as Bristol, who were reduced to 13 men at one stage by yellow cards, ran away with the match.
Jarvis struck a penalty and converted his own try before hooker Ross Johnston added a second touchdown after 31 minutes with Jarvis again converting before he slotted a third penalty for a 23-3 half-time lead.
Prop Darren Crompton added Bristol’s third try, which proved to be the only score of the second half.
Second-placed Exeter Chiefs did Devon rivals Plymouth Albion a huge favour at Sandy Park on Saturday, running five tries past Moseley, sending the Midland play-off hopefuls home empty-handed.
Gareth Steenson converted three early tries from Tui, Thomas and Foster for Exeter and added a penalty as the Chiefs raced into a 24-point lead before Justin Mensah-Coker responded with a score for the visitors.
Foster and Matt Jess struck again for the Chiefs after the break before Moseley grabbed two late consolation tries from Williams and Rodwell.
The Midlanders now lie ninth in the table two points behind Plymouth and with a daunting trip to Bristol facing them in their final regular season game.
A strong first-half display from Plymouth, meanwhile, saw off hosts Birmingham & Solihull at Sharman’s Cross Road and gave Graham Dawe’s side a fighting chance of staying out of the relegation play-offs.
Albion led 31-7 at the break, scoring four converted tries to kill the contest off by half-time after they had trailed 7-0 early on.
Liam Gibson, Keni Fisilau, Ben Mercer and Sione Tu`ipulotu all touched down with Kieran Hallett converting all four tries to add to an earlier penalty, but the Bees, facing their second setback in a five days, fought back in the second half and converted tries from Brake and Hunt cut the Albion lead to just ten points before a late George Porter try sealed an important win for Plymouth.
Out-of-sorts Bedford Blues, already safely in the play-offs, went down 23-12 at Goldington Road against the determined Doncaster Knights, who had already won 35-7 at Birmingham & Solihull in midweek, lifting the Yorkshire side into the play-off reckoning.
The visitors played up the slope and turned around 13-0 up thanks to a try from Wright and a conversion and two penalties from Warnock.
The Blues hit back after the break with a try from Ollie Dodge but another Warnock penalty kept the Knights in the clear and they picked off an interception try through Dougie Flockhart with Warnock converting to put the game out of the Blues’ reach.
The home side mustered a late try from Taylor, converted by Dorrian, but a losing bonus point proved beyond them.
Elsewhere, a dominant six-try home display from Rotherham Titans, who had already beaten Nottingham 30-22 in midweek at Clifton Lane, saw visiting Coventry put to the sword as Rotherham stepped up their late bid for a promotion play-off place.
Titans number 8 Ryan Burrows bagged a hat-trick of tries with Brad West, Ryan Kleeburger and Jon Feeley adding one apiece, while Coventry`s only try came from James Lewis before the interval.
And a poor week for Nottingham was brought to a shattering end when they crashed to a 47-19 defeat by their Cornish Pirates hosts on Sunday.
The fifth-placed Pirates had the win and the bonus point in the bag by the interval courtesy of a brace of tries from hooker Dave Ward and a touchdown apiece from Wes Davies and Blair Cowan.
Centre Tim Streather, Dan White and Tom Youngs responded with tries for the visitors in the second half, but tries from Paul Devlin and Cowan made sure Nottingham never got as much as a sniff of a losing bonus point.
RESULTS
Tuesday, 16th February 2010
Rotherham Titans 30-22 Nottingham
Wednesday 17th February 2010
Birmingham & Solihull 7-35 Doncaster Knights
Saturday 20th February 2010
Bedford Blues 12-23 Doncaster Knights
Birmingham & Solihull 21-36 Plymouth Albion
Exeter Chiefs 36-19 Moseley
London Welsh 3-28 Bristol Rugby
Rotherham Titans 41-11 Coventry
Sunday 21st February 2010
Cornish Pirates 47-19 Nottingham
WEEK 21
CHAMPIONSHIP leaders and promotion favourites Bristol had to work hard to tuck their 17th win in 19 starts under their belts at the expense of stubborn fifth-placed Nottingham, who salvaged a precious losing bonus point to stay in the play-off mix.
Adrian Jarvis set up Sam Giddens for Bristol’s opening try and after converting the score Jarvis added a penalty. Dan White then intercepted to score for the home side with Jackson converting but the sin-binning of Nic Rouse made life tough for Nottingham, who hung on bravely until half-time just three points down.
A converted try from James Phillips for Bristol and a penalty from Jackson moved the score on to 17-10 to the visitors before Eggleshaw became the second home forward to take a trip to the sin bin.
Redford Pennycook then claimed Bristol’s third try before late penalties for Nottingham from Jackson and Tonks earned them a losing bonus point.
Exeter Chiefs, already safely into the play-offs with Bristol, made it five wins on the trot against their hosts the Cornish Pirates, leaving the home side with some work still to do to make the play-offs.
Chiefs fly-half Gareth Steenson gave the visitors a 6-0 lead early on and by the interval the Chiefs were 13-0 up after flanker Andy Miller grabbed an opportunist try on the stroke of half-time with Steenson converting.
The Pirates drew first blood after the break when flanker Blair Cowan scored his 11th try of the season off the base of a scrum, but Exeter drove Richie Baxter over the Pirates’ line with Steenson converting and then took command of the contest.
Hooker Neil Clark grabbed their unconverted third try and the bonus-point try from Baxter to send the Chiefs 30-5 clear before a late rally from the home side saw skipper Ben Gulliver and hooker Dave Ward run in tries for the Pirates to round off a contest where all seven tries came from forwards.
Coventry laid down a significant marker ahead of their impending relegation battle with Birmingham & Solihull, comfortably disposing of the Bees at the Butts Park Arena.
Coventry ran in three tries with Ben Russell restored at fly-half and running the show from the off, weighing in with a personal haul of nine points as Coventry ended a run of six defeats.
His first contribution came after just five minutes when he converted the opening try from James Hall and when Phil Mackenzie scored a fine second try with just ten minutes gone, Russell again converted.
But the Bees were straight back in the contest with a converted try from wing Simon Hunt before a penalty from Russell and a converted try from number eight Alex Shaw early in the first half killed the match off as a contest.
Moseley are still loitering on the cusp of the relegation play-offs after a home defeat by Bedford Blues, who edged the contest up front after a bitter match-long battle at the set piece before a 75th minute try from centre Ian Vass, converted by Brad Davies, made the game safe for the Blues.
Referee Terry Hall produced three yellow cards, awarded 17 penalties and a penalty try to Bedford in a difficult first half which saw four penalty goals from home fly-half Tristan Roberts matched by three penalties and a conversion from Davies to send the Blues in 16-12 in front at the break.
Davies struck again with the boot after 67 minutes to give the Blues some breathing space before the crucial try from Vass sealed it, although Moseley claimed a losing bonus point with a penalty try in stoppage time.
A try from Welsh fly-half Aled Thomas seven minutes in to second-half stoppage time robbed Plymouth Albion of a vital win at Brickfields, where third-placed London Welsh earned a share of the spoils from a hard-fought 13-13 draw to pile the relegation pressure on their hosts.
Two early penalties from Kieran Hallett gave Albion a 6-0 lead but the Exiles fought back when Neil Starling set up wing Dominic Shabbo for a score in the corner, but an Albion rolling maul was taken down illegally and Hallett converted the resulting penalty try to give the home side a 13-5 half-time lead.
Welsh stepped up a gear after the break but it took them until the 69th minute to notch a Thomas penalty by Thomas saved the visitors with a late try to square the contest and then saw his conversion, which could have won the game for the Exiles come back off an upright.
Rotherham Titans, meanwhile, were left shell-shocked at Doncaster Knights’ Castle Park, where Steve McColl`s 84th minute try snatched away a valuable win on the road and almost certainly condemned the Clifton Lane outfit to the relegation play-offs.
The Titans led all the way until McColl struck after dominating up front but when they went down to 14 men with Nigel Conroy in the sin bin, they ran out of steam.
Jonny West opened the scoring for Rotherham with a penalty before Ali Warnock replied for the Knights but scrum-half Neil Chivers then claimed the opening try for Rotherham with West converting before a fine try from Adam Kettle late in the half and Warnock’s conversion made it 10-10 at half-time.
Jon Feeley and Warnock traded converted tries early in the second half to make it 17-17 before West landed a penalty to give the Titans a three-point lead, which Warnock cancelled out with eight minutes to go. But, four minutes into stoppage time, Anthony Carter set up McColl for the decisive score and Warnock converted to pile the agony on for Rotherham.
RESULTS
Tuesday 2nd February 2010
Birmingham & Solihull 0-39 Nottingham
Friday 5th February 2010
Coventry 24-7 Birmingham & Solihull
Saturday 6th February 2010
Moseley 19-26 Bedford Blues
Plymouth Albion 13-13 London Welsh
Sunday 7th February 2010
Cornish Pirates 16-30 Exeter Chiefs
Doncaster Knights 27-20 Rotherham Titans
Nottingham 10-22 Bristol Rugby
WEEK 20
BATTLING Plymouth Albion put up a fighting display at The Memorial Stadium but a 24-14 defeat by table-toppers Bristol has left the Devon side right on the play-off bubble in eighth place with three regular season games to play.
Plymouth led when Kieran Hallett kicked a first-minute penalty, Bristol hit back with a try from centre Sam Giddens, which Adrian Jarvis converted but Plymouth led again just before interval after Ben Mercer scored his sixth try of the season.
By half-time, though, a Lee Robinson try had Bristol 12-8 in front and after Hallett notched a penalty to cut their lead to 12-11 early in the second half Luke Eves crossed to extend Bristol’s cushion.
With 11 minutes to go, Hallett made it 17-14 but Bristol Albion started to get into the game and they cut the home side's lead again 11 minutes from time with another Hallett penalty.
The home support was growing restless as Albion looked for a shock winner, but the game was sealed with a try from Junior Fatialofa in stoppage time with Giddens adding the conversions which denied Plymouth a losing bonus point.
Exeter Chiefs are assured of finishing in second place at least in the RFU Championship regular-season table after a 42-12, bonus-point win over sixth-placed Nottingham at Sandy Park, which left them 17 points clear of third-placed London Welsh with three games to play before the play-off line-up is decided.
The Chiefs’ 16th win in 19 outings to date, came courtesy of a brace of tries from Matt Jess and one each from fellow wing Mark Foster, Clive Stuart-Smith and Andy Miller with Danny Gray kicking 17 points.
Greig Tonks crossed for a try to belatedly get Nottingham on the board and Tim Streather also bagged a try, which Tonks converted for the visitors.
London Welsh cemented third place in the Championship with a comprehensive seven-try
rout of second-bottom Coventry at Old Deer Park which took the Exiles five points clear of fourth-placed Bedford Blues.
The visitors led early on thanks to a Simon Frewin try and a Fangatapu Apikotoa penalty, but
two tries from wing Dominic Shabbo and a Gordon Ross penalty try saw Welsh take a 19-8
lead into the break.
The home side then pulled away in the second half with Charlie Gower’s early touchdown and tries from. Matthew Corker, Paul Sampson and Errie Claassens setting them up for an emphatic win, although Romain Plantey grabbed a late consolation try for Coventry.
Bedford Blues picked up a valuable home win over the Cornish Pirates in the battle between the league’s fourth and fifth-placed sides at Goldington Road.
Chris Goodman got the Blues only try of the game, but full-back James Pritchard was on fine form with the boot, hitting four penalties and a conversion to wrap up the home side’s win.
Rotherham Titans, meanwhile, crashed to a 19-7 home defeat by Moseley, who restricted their hosts to a lone first-half try from Justin Mensah-Coker.
Nathan Bressington and Jon Feeley both scored tries for Moseley with Jonny West kicking a conversion to go with three penalties from Tristan Roberts.
Bottom-of-the-table Birmingham & Solihull’s home clash with Doncaster Knights was postponed, adding the Championship’s lengthy list of fixtures to be re-arranged.
RESULTS
Saturday 30th January 2010
Bedford Blues 19-16 Cornish Pirates
Birmingham & Solihull P-P Doncaster Knights
Exeter Chiefs 42-12 Nottingham
London Welsh 51-13 Coventry
Rotherham Titans 7-19 Moseley
Sunday 31st January 2010
Bristol Rugby 24-14 Plymouth Albion
WEEK 19
TOP-OF-THE-TABLE Bristol turned on the pack power to see off Coventry at the Butts Park Arena, running out 27-16 winners to stay four points clear of the chasing pack.
Wing Lee Robinson opened the scoring for the visitors after 10 minutes and after Apikotoa had opened the home account with a penalty, Bristol hooker Ross Johnston scored the first of his two tries.
Apikotoa struck again with the boot before flanker Redford Pennycook claimed his team’s third try of the afternoon. Tom Arscott slotted the only conversion of the game for Bristol to leave them 17-6 to the good at half-time.
Johnston claimed a bonus-point try two minutes after the restart and then with Adams in the bin for a high tackle, Apikotoa landed his third place kick. Junior Fatialofa completed the scoring for Bristol eight minutes from time before David Askew`s late converted try gave Coventry some consolation.
Doncaster suffered their second defeat in three days as they fell short at Castle Park against a stubborn London Welsh side, leaving the Knights still languishing in the bottom four, while the Exiles stayed firmly in the play-off hunt in third place.
Two Aled Thomas penalties proved the difference between the teams in the first half as the Knights fought hard in a physical encounter but Welsh prop Mike Holford was driven over the home line for the only try of the game early in the second half.
The Knights hit back with ten points in as many minutes when Hudson Tonga`uiha’s try was followed by the conversion and a penalty from James Brooks, but Welsh held their nerve and two late Thomas penalties stitched up a valuable away win.
Second-placed Exeter Chiefs destroyed Bedford Blues up front at Sandy Park in a first-half blitz sealing which had the game won and four tries in the bank by half-time.
The Chiefs led 28-0 at the break after tries from Chad Slade, Matt Jess, Richie Baxter and Neil Clark with Gareth Steenson converting all four scores.
Paul Tupai was driven over for the visitors’ first points on the hour before the home side with a fifth try from Saul Nelson with Danny Gray converting.
Two late tries from Tupai and Chris Locke, both converted by James Pritchard, for Bedford gave the score-line some respectability, although the Chiefs had the last word with a Haydn Thomas try and Gray’s conversion.
Moseley won their Midlands derby battle with Birmingham & Solihull by a tight 25-24 margin at Billesley Common.
Ricky Aley put the Bees ahead with a first minute penalty only for Moseley to storm back to score their only try of the game through Nathan Bressington two minutes later. Tristan Roberts converted and then added a penalty on 8 minutes for a 10-3 lead to the home side.
Roberts extended the home lead further with a second of six successful penalties before Simon Hunt’s try and Aley`s second pot at goal brought the Bees back into the contest. Roberts struck again on the interval for a 16-10 Moseley lead.
Three more Roberts penalties in the second half against two from the visitors kept Moseley’s nose in front until Hunt’s converted try three minutes from time set up a desperate finale.
Rotherham Titans fought hard at Camborne before they succumbed to a 29-24 defeat by the fourth-placed Cornish Pirates, who chalked up 22 unanswered points in threw first quarter to put the Yorkshiremen behind the eight ball.
Pirates fly-half Bentley grabbed the opening try inside a minute and wing Richard Bright and a penalty try, and two conversions and a penalty from Rob Cook quickly got the home side in the driving seat.
Prop Nigel Conroy burrowed over for Rotherham’s first try with skipper Mike Whitehead converting in the 26th minute and wing Jon Freely then put a second try on the board for the visitors but by half-time, Devlin’s try had the Pirates 12 points clear at the break.
Tom Allen crossed for a late converted score for Rotherham, but the Pirates had done enough to stitch up victory before the break.
Nottingham, meanwhile, came from behind to beat Plymouth Albion 20-19 in a tense contest at Meadow Lane, where Albion’s Alex Davies kicked the visitors into a 6-0 half-time lead.
Greig Tonks kicked Nottingham back into the game after the break with three penalties and a penalty try conversion before Albion roared back with a brace of penalties from Davies and a converted try from Watts-Jones.
But late in the final quarter with Albion down to 14 men, Jack Cobden burrowed over the Albion line from a close range scrum and Tonks banged over the match-clinching conversion for the home side.
RESULTS
Wednesday 20th January
Nottingham 27-21 Doncaster Knights
Rotherham Titans 42-15 Birmingham & Solihull
Saturday, 23rd January 2010
Coventry 16-27 Bristol
Doncaster Knights 10-17 London Welsh
Exeter Chiefs 42-19 Bedford Blues
Moseley 25-24 Birmingham & Solihull
Sunday 24th January 2010
Cornish Pirates 29-24 Rotherham Titans
Nottingham 20-19 Plymouth Albion
WEEK 18
BEDFORD Blues were the biggest Week 18 winners in the RFU Championship with a 52-19 Sunday afternoon rout of Nottingham which lifted the Goldington Road outfit into fourth place in the table as the play-off race begins to hot up.
The home side romped into a 27-7 half-time lead thanks to tries from Harding, Pritchard and Davey with Pritchard adding a penalty and two conversions after Tom Young’s pushover try, converted by Taylor, had given Nottingham an early 7-0 cushion.
After the break, the Blues continued to dominate proceedings and tries from Gillanders and Walsh had them well clear before Pienaar and Johnston claimed a brace of tries from Nottingham, leaving Dorrian to underline Bedford’s superiority with the stoppage-time try which clocked up the half-century.
At the top of the table, Bristol’s Friday night home game against Doncaster Knights was postponed, adding to Doncaster’s mounting fixture pile-up problems and Exeter Chiefs took full advantage to cut Bristol’s lead to four points with a 24-19 away win over Rotherham Titans at Clifton Lane, ending the Devon side’s three-game losing streak.
A West penalty had the Titans ahead early on but Exeter racked up 24 unanswered points before half-time with converted tries from Jess, Marsden and Stuart-Smith and a Gavin Steenson penalty to go well clear by the interval.
A second penalty got the Titans going after the break and a try from Maggs and a stoppage-time try from Farmer helped the Yorkshire side salvage a potentially valuable losing bonus point.
A Claasens hat-trick helped third-placed London Welsh see Moseley off at Old Deer Park, where the former Titans wing’s first try was enough to give the home side a 5-3 interval lead in a poor match.
Roberts slotted Moseley’s first-half penalty but Welsh extended their lead after the break when Classens scored twice with Ross adding a conversion and a penalty to seal the home side’s win.
Meanwhile, the fifth-placed Cornish Pirates slipped up in a 31-31 draw with bottom-of-the-table Birmingham & Solihull, letting a 31-17 lead slide away in the last quarter.
Converted tries from full-back Cook and flanker Cracknell had the Pirates 14-12 up at the break after Patston and Doherty touched down for the Bees, but a penalty try and touchdowns from Holmes and Cowan then looked to have the Pirates on easy street.
The Bees, though, had other ideas, and after Patston notched his second try and Patson’s late conversion on Lawson’s try proved enough to make sure Birmingham grabbed a share of the spoils.
RESULTS
Friday 15th January 2010
Bristol P-P Doncaster Knights
Saturday 16th January 2010
London Welsh 22-16 Moseley
Rotherham Titans 19-24 Exeter Chiefs
Sunday 17th January 2010
Birmingham & Solihull 31-31 Cornish Pirates
Bedford Blues 52-19 Nottingham
Plymouth Albion 20-3 Coventry
WEEK 17
THE entire fixture program for the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, 9th & 10th January 2010 – see details below - was wiped out by weather-enforced postponements.
A continually updated round-up of Round 17 fixtures will be posted as and when the postponed matches are re-arranged and played.
POSTPONED FIXTURES
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Bedford Blues P-P Rotherham Titans
Doncaster Knights P-P Plymouth Albion
Exeter Chiefs P-P Birmingham & Solihull
Moseley P-P Bristol Rugby
Sunday 10th January
Cornish Pirates P-P London Welsh
Nottingham P-P Coventry
WEEK 16
BRISTOL started 2010 by underlining their promotion credentials with a 31-15 bonus-point New Year’s Day win over the Cornish Pirates at the Memorial Stadium to open up an eight-point lead at the top of the RFU Championship table, effectively guaranteeing them a play-off spot with six regular season games still to play.
Bristol outscored the Pirates by five tries to two, blowing the Cornish side away in a rampant 25-minute period in the first half, which saw Lee Robinson and Tom Arscott score once and Dan Norton notch a try double to bank a bonus point before the break.
James Phillips powered over in the second half to seal an eighth straight league win for Bristol stormed to an eighth straight league win, while the Pirates were left with a first-half try from skipper Gavin Cattle and late second-half touchdown from Rob Cook, converted by Jonny Bentley, as scant consolation.
Exeter Chiefs stayed in second place in the table despite a 12-10 defeat by London Welsh at Old Deer Park, where a converted stoppage-time try from Guy Mercer condemned the Devon side to a third straight defeat after the Exiles came from behind to snatch a valuable win that lifted them into third place.
Chiefs hooker Saul Nelson grabbed the game’s first try but Danny Gray missed the conversion and three kickable penalties in a first-half which ended with the visitors 5-0 ahead.
Welsh were reduced to 13 in the second half when Mercer and Guy Holford were dispatched to the sin-bin but they hit back with an unconverted try from wing Greg Evans before a Matt Jess touchdown have the Chiefs a 10-5 lead with a minute to go.
But the home side rallied again and with Exeter’s Sam Blythe in the sin bin, they made the extra man count when Mercer tied it up with a try under the posts making the match-clinching conversion simple for Gordon Ross.
Fourth-placed Bedford Blues ran in eight tries against bottom-of-the-table Birmingham & Solihull in a match switched to Goldington Road to beat the freeze in the Midlands, although the Bees ran in a converted Cameron Mitchell try to threaten an upset.
But a fifth-minute penalty from full-back James Pritchard got the Blues on the board and by half-time two tries from flanker Chris Brightwell and one apiece from Pritchard and Brad Davis had Bedford 27-10 up.
After the break, Birmingham had two players spend time in the sin bin and the Blues took full advantage to run in another four tries from Tupai, Goodman, Taylor and Locke to round off a comprehensive victory.
In the only other game to survive the freezing weather, Moseley handed hosts Plymouth Albion a second festive setback, coming from behind to clinch a three-tries-to-two, 20-10 win at the Brickfields.
An early penalty from Roberts gave Moseley a 3-0 lead but that was overturned by a converted try from Hallett for Albion, who then conceded a penalty try just before the interval to trail 10-7.
A Mark Lee penalty wiped out Moseley’s narrow lead three minutes into the second half but a Roberts try made it 15-10 to Moseley, who then sealed their win with an unconverted touchdown from skipper Neil Mason ten minutes before the end.
RESULTS
Friday 1st January 2010
Bristol Rugby 31-15 Cornish Pirates
Saturday 2nd January 2010
Birmingham & Solihull 10-49 Bedford Blues
Coventry P-P Doncaster Knights
London Welsh 12-10 Exeter Chiefs
Plymouth Albion 10-20 Moseley
Rotherham Titans P-P Nottingham
WEEK 15
BRISTOL stepped up their bid for an immediate return to the Guinness Premiership ranks with a bonus-point 25-16 win over Exeter Chiefs in front of a 7,405 Sandy Park crowd to leapfrog their hosts into a four-point lead at the top of the RFU Championship table.
The Chiefs held an early 6-3 lead after two Gavin Steenson penalties cancelled out an effort from Bristol opposite number Adrian Jarvis but after centre Junior Fatialofa was sin-binned for a late hit on Exeter’s Paul MacKenzie, the home side were unable to make the extra man count.
Bristol hooker David Blaney punished that when he notched the opening try for Bristol and Jarvis` conversion had the Chiefs trailing 10-6 at the break.
Steenson hit back with a penalty for Exeter early in the second half but two quick tries from Tom Arscott and Roy Winters swung the game Bristol’s way and flanker James Phillips sealed the bonus point victory ten minutes from time before Exeter grabbed a late consolation touchdown from Nic Sestaret.
The other Sunday game saw the Cornish Pirates dismantle Plymouth Albion in a 46-7 rout, running in seven tries to one from the Devon side with two touchdowns coming from fly-half Rob Cook and one apiece Chris Morgan, Aisea Havili, Gavin Cattle, Blair Cowan and Jonny Bentley.
Albion, who were left lying seventh in the table, mustered just the one try from Matt Hopper midway through the second half, while the Pirates’ win saw them finish 2009 in third place, 17 points adrift of second-placed Exeter.
A day earlier, Bedford Blues beat London Welsh 30-23 at Goldington Road in a Boxing Day cracker watched by a 4,000 crowd, taking a 20-17 into the half-time break after the Exiles had notched a second-minute try from Mackey to get a high-scoring contest up and running.
Two quick-fire tries from Ian Davey and Myles Dorrian then gave the Blues the edge and a 38th minute penalty from James Pritchard had the home side on cruise control until Welsh were awarded a penalty try in first-half stoppage time.
Two penalties from Thomas edged the visitors back in front after the break, but Pritchard tied it up again with his third successful penalty before Luke Fielden touched down Dorrian`s chip ahead for Bedford’s third and match-clinching try nine minutes from time.
Moseley, meanwhile, hung on in the second half under ferocious pressure from Coventry to chalk up a precious 26-20 win at Billesley Common in the Boxing Day Midlands derby, racing into a 13-0 lead in the opening 15 minutes with Gloucester loan star Jordi Pasqualin touching down and Tristan Roberts adding the conversion and two penalties.
Coventry rallied with a converted try from James Lewis and a penalty from Thomas but three two Roberts penalties had Moseley 19-10 up at the break and after Johnny May ran in a 46th minute solo try converted by Roberts converted, Coventry fought back.
They hit back with tries from Aaron Carpenter and James Lewis to claim a losing bonus point with Moseley hanging on desperately at the end.
Both of Monday’s scheduled games – Nottingham’s home clash with Doncaster Knights and Birmingham & Solihull’s trip to Rotherham Titans – were frozen off.
RESULTS
Saturday 26th December 2009
Bedford 30-23 London Welsh
Moseley 26-20 Coventry
Sunday 27th December 2009
Cornish Pirates 46-7 Plymouth Albion
Exeter Chiefs 16-25 Bristol
Monday 28th December 2009
Nottingham P-P Doncaster Knights
Rotherham Titans P-P Birmingham & Solihull
WEEK 14
EXETER Chiefs’ 100 per cent start to the RFU Championship’s regular season was brought crashing to a halt by a 21-13 defeat by determined Plymouth Albion in a hugely competitive Devon derby at Brickfields, where the home side dug deep to hand their near-neighbours their first setback of the campaign.
The home side got their noses in front with a penalty try, awarded when the Chiefs pulled down a rolling maul, with fly-half Alex Davies, who added a penalty before half-time, which arrived with Albion 10-6 up after Exeter’s Gareth Steenson clipped over two penalties in reply.
Davis extended Albion’s lead with another penalty early in the second half and when Keni Fisilau capitalised on another impressive Plymouth rolling maul with Davis converting, Exeter were up against it.
The Chiefs responded with a try from wing Mark Foster, converted by Steenson, to get back into the contest late on but it was too little, too late to salvage a losing bonus-point.
Bristol, who played on Friday night, had already closed the gap at the top of the table to a solitary point with an impressive 37-16 home win over sixth-placed Bedford Blues at the Memorial Stadium, bouncing back after trailing 16-10 at the break with four second-half tries to pocket a valuable bonus-point win.
Fired-up Bristol dominated after the break with Jack Adams, ark Irish, Tom Arscott and Sam Giddens notching the touchdowns after three penalties from Blues full-back James Pritchard and a try from centre Ollie Dodge, converted by Pritchard, earned Bedford their interval lead.
The first half had seen wing Lee Robinson open Bristol’s account with fly-half Adrian Jarvis converting and notching a penalty.
The Cornish Pirates, meanwhile, added to Coventry’s woes at the end of a week which saw the Midlands club penalised 15 points and stayed on course for the play-offs in fifth place after a 27-12 Friday night win on the road, courtesy of tries from Rhys Jones, Tyrone Holmes and Rob Cook with Cook kicking three conversions and two penalties.
Coventry, who trailed by 13 points at the interval, replied tries from Phil Mackenzie, Aaron Carpenter, one converted by Ollie Grove.
London Welsh moved up to fourth place after a 30-24 home win over Rotherham Titans, who led 19-13 at half-time before the home side lit up Old Deer Park in the second half to romp to a valuable victory.
Touchline flier Errie Claassens grabbed two of the Exiles’ tries with on-loan Bath flanker Guy Mercer and number eight Tom Brown getting the others while ten points came from the boot of full-back Aled Thomas.
Rotherham collected a four-try bonus point in defeat, thanks to tries from former Ireland centre Kevin Maggs, blind-side Adam Kleenberger and wings Adam Hunt, and Andrew Henderson.
Doncaster Knights piled on the misery for Moseley, leapfrogging their visitors into the last play-off spot with a 14-3 home win, courtesy of tries from centre Hudson Tonga’uiha and flanker Andy Boyde, both converted by fly-half Ali Warnock.
And Nottingham stayed in third place despite the postponement of their clash with bottom-of-the-table hosts Birmingham & Solihull because of a frozen pitch.
RESULTS
Friday 18th December 2009
Bristol Rugby 37-16 Bedford Blues
Coventry 12-Cornish Pirates 27
Saturday, 19th December 2009
Birmingham & Solihull P-P Nottingham
Doncaster Knights 14-3 Moseley
London Welsh 30-16 Rotherham Titans
Plymouth Albion 21-13 Exeter Chiefs
WEEK 13
PLYMOUTH Albion produced arguably the shock result of the RFU Championship weekend, thanks to a Ben Mercer try two minutes from time which snatched victory from under the noses of the Bedford Blues at Goldington Road.
Bedford fly-half Myles Dorrian kicked two penalties before Albion wing Liam Gibson raced over for the first try of the contest with Mark Lee then adding a penalty to give the visitors an 8-6 interval lead and after Lee added two more penalties with Dorrian relying once, Plymouth were 14-9 ahead going into the last ten minutes.
Bedford then thought they had secured win with a converted try from Dorrian in the 74th minute but the visitors hit back when replacement fly-half Kieran Hallett slung out a long pass to Mercer on the wing and he touched down the match-clinching score.
London Welsh scored two converted tries in the final 14 minutes at Sharman’s Cross Road to wrap up a 29-6 win over Birmingham & Solihull, who trailed 15-6 at the interval after Simon Hunt and Ed Lewis-Pratt exchanged penalties and Welsh grabbed the first try when John Fisher scored off turnover ball.
Lewis-Pratt converted and Guy Mercer then waltzed through the Bees’ defence to score the Exiles second touchdown.
The home side then conceded a penalty try, which Thomas converted, in the 66th minute with their scrum in complete disarray and Paul Mackey wrapped up London Welsh’s win with the bonus-point try.
Table-topping Exeter Chiefs wasted little sympathy on beleaguered Coventry at Sandy Park, running in six tries to chalk up their 13th straight win of the season.
It was 6-6 early on after Oliver Grove and home fly-half Danny Gray kicked two penalties apiece but first-half tries from Haydn Thomas and Phil Dollman got the Chiefs into an 18-6 half-time lead.
Ten points immediately after the restart courtesy of a penalty try converted by Gray, who also added a penalty, stretched the Chief’s lead and when Chris Budgen and Mark Foster both touched down, the match was over as a contest before Chris Lewis grabbed a consolation score for the visitors.
Second-placed Bristol dropped a point in their pursuit of Exeter despite dominating hosts Rotherham Titans at Clifton Lane, where the home defence denied them a try-scoring bonus point.
Bristol took the lead with a try from hooker David Blaney after just nine minutes and they doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time when centre Jack Adams touched down.
But Bristol struggled to inject any pace into the game and they had to wait until the hour-mark to score again when Blaney was driven over for his second and Bristol's third try to make the game safe.
Doncaster Knights chalked up a valuable away win at the expense of the Cornish Pirates, making the long haul to Camborne highly worthwhile with a 12-10 victory.
Neither side got on the scoreboard in the first half but the Knights broke the deadlock when fly-half Ali Warnock’s cross kick was touched down by wing Andrew Wright for an unconverted try and a 5-3 lead after Rob Cook clipped over a penalty for the Pirates.
Shortly after the restart, Doncaster skipper and hooker Steve Lawrie nipped over for a try under the posts and Warnock converted to give the Knights a vital edge which a late converted try from Pirates’ Rhodri McAtee failed to overturn.
Nottingham raced into a 15-0 lead over visiting Moseley thanks to tries from Sherriff and Hammond complimented by a penalty and conversion from Taylor, but Moseley fly-half Tristan Roberts responded with four penalties and a drop-goal to make it 18-15 at the interval.
After the break, Ben Johnston plundered a third try for Nottingham on the hour and Billy Twelvetrees wrapped up a home bonus-point victory in the last minute.
RESULTS
Saturday 12th December 2009
Bedford Blues 16-19 Plymouth Albion
Birmingham & Solihull 6-29 London Welsh
Exeter Chiefs 46-11 Coventry
Rotherham Titans 0-15 Bristol
Sunday 13th December 2009
Cornish Pirates 10-12 Doncaster Knights
Nottingham 30-15 Moseley
WEEK 12
EXETER CHIEFS maintained their perfect RFU Championship record with a 14-9 away win over Doncaster Chiefs to record their 12th straight victory in as many starts to stay five points clear of the chasing pack.
Prop Chris Budgen's 77th minute try – his third of the season - thwarted a second-half revival by the home side, who pushed the West Country side hard in awful overhead and underfoot conditions.
Two early penalties from Gareth Steenson and Matt Cornwell drop-goal for Exeter and two Ali Warnock penalties and another from full-back Steve McColl in reply for the Knights had it all-square at 9-9 with ten minutes to go.
But the Chiefs came up with unstoppable driving maul when it mattered to set up Budgen’s match-clinching score.
Ninth-placed Coventry came from behind with three late unconverted tries to stun high-flying Bedford Blues in a 15-15 draw in front of a 1,500 Ricoh Arena crowd.
Tries from Ollie Dodge and Neil Roberts and a conversion and a penalty from Myles Dorrian looked to have fourth-placed Bedford on course for a win when they led 15-0 three minutes into the second half.
But Coventry’s powerful pack had other ideas and they conjured up a try for James Hall and two for Canadian flanker Aaron Carpenter to wipe out Bedford’s lead in the second half.
After two successive home defeats, London Welsh bounced back to winning ways to beat an under-strength Nottingham side 19-8 in front of a 910 crowd at Old Deer Park.
Early tries from Jonathan Mills and Dan George coupled with a brace of penalties from Ed Lewis-Pratt had the Exiles 16-3 up at half-time which arrived with only a from Tim Taylor penalty on the board for the visitors.
Dan Hemingway got the only try of the afternoon for Nottingham late in the first half before Lewis-Pratt's third penalty wrapped up a Welsh win.
Moseley gave the visiting Cornish Pirates a scare before they slipped to a fourth consecutive defeat – a 20-19 home setback which left the Cornishmen lyi9ng fifth in the table and Moseley hovering on the play-off bubble.
A try by South African wing Nick Jackson three minutes before the end and a nerveless touchline conversion from Rob Cook capped a 20-point comeback from the Pirates after Chev Pennycook gave the home side a flying start with his first try for Moseley and young fly-half Tristan Roberts kicked 14 points.
Plymouth Albion sneaked into the play-off reckoning with a hard-fought 20-14 home win over Rotherham Titans at Brickfields.
Tries from Mike Whitehead and John Skurr twice had Rotherham in front but fly-half Alex Davies responded with two penalties and then converted scrum-half Ruairi Cushion's try to give Albion a 13-8 lead.
Wing Ben Mercer made the game safe ten minutes from time when he touched down and Davies once again converted, leaving Rotherham to snatch a losing bonus point with a Jon Feeley try converted by West late on.
Bristol, meanwhile, did enough on Sunday at the Memorial Stadium to ensure maximum points, scoring four tries against a depleted bottom-of-the-table Birmingham & Solihull to hot on the heels of league leaders Exeter.
Junior Fatialofa, Ross Johnston and Robbie Shaw scored first-half tries with fly-half Adrian Jarvis converting all three and a penalty try converted by Jarvis wrapped up an easy Bristol bonus-point victory.
RESULTS
Friday 4th December 2009
Coventry 15-15 Bedford Blues
Saturday 5th December 2009
Doncaster Knights 9-14 Exeter Chiefs
London Welsh 19-14 Nottingham
Moseley 19-20 Cornish Pirates
Plymouth Albion 20-15 Rotherham Titans
Sunday 6th December 2009
Bristol 28-0 Birmingham & Solihull
WEEK 11
STRUGGLING Moseley slumped to their sixth defeat of the season at Goldington Road, where Bedford Blues ground out a victory in the latter stages.
Brad Davies' boot put the Blues ahead after 13 minutes only for Moseley to respond with a well-worked try for Mike Gillick converted by Borgen.
But as the visitors squandered a host of opportunities to increase their lead, Gillanders scored the opening try for Bedford and Davies converted for a 10-7 half-time lead.
Davies added two further penalties after the break with full-back Luke Fielden taking his try scoring tally for the season to six as he touched down after 56 minutes.
Coventry came out on top at Sharman Cross Road, beating Birmingham & Solihull comfortable in a lacklustre affair which was long on effort but short on inspiration.
The visitors took a 16-6 interval lead through a penalty try converted by Joey Carlisle and a hat-trick of penalties from the on-loan fly-half, while the Bees countered with two penalties of their own from Simon Hunt.
Early in the second half, however, Hunt turned villain when his complete hash of a clearance from inside his own 22 gifted Fangatapu Apikotoa a simple second try for the visitors.
The Bees offered practically nothing as an offensive threat and their meagre playing resources have been stretched further with the news that back-rower Chris Brightwell has joined Bedford Blues.
Exeter Chiefs maintained their unbeaten record with a 22-15 Sandy Park win over the Cornish Pirates, who emerged from a hugely competitive contest with a deserved losing bonus point.
Pirates fly-half Rob Cook kept the visitors in the hunt throughout, kicking five penalties, but that wasn’t enough to throw a spanner in the Chiefs’ works as they underlined their promotion pedigree.
A clever kick over the top from former Pirate Gareth Steenson, who also added the conversion, set up the Chiefs’ first try for centre Paul McKenzie.
Steenson added a penalty before half-time with Cook hitting back three times to make it 10-9 at half-time.
Exeter came out of the blocks hard and fast after the break and they stretched their lead when number eight and captain Baxter dived over off from the base of a powerful scrum and when prop Brett Sturgess added the Chiefs’ third touchdown, the Pirates were left with too much to do to turn the match around.
London Welsh, meanwhile, saved, arguably, their poorest performance of the season for Plymouth Albion’s visit to Old Deer Park and the Devon side took full advantage to tear up the form book and head home with a five-point haul.
Welsh were ahead after just two minutes as Dominic Shabbo crossed for a converted try and despite Sean-Michael Stephen claiming the first try of the afternoon for Albion after 15 minutes, increased their lead to 12-5 minutes later with a second from Shabbo.
But in poor weather conditions the second half belonged entirely to Albion and fourteen points inside the first five minutes of the second period decided the game, as the Welsh were reduced to fourteen men.
Keni Fisilau scored the first try with Wayne Sprangle, a replacement for the injured Stephen, adding the next. Both were converted by Davies and a penalty try awarded 12 minutes from time when the home side illegally halted a driving maul killed off any hopes of a late Welsh revival.
Rotherham Titans ended Doncaster Knights’ recent encouraging run by claiming their first win in seven outings against their South Yorkshire rivals in difficult conditions at Clifton Lane.
Rotherham's pack proved to be the cornerstone of their success as they adapted better to the conditions and led 11-0 at the break after a try from Gregor Hayter added to a brace of Jonny West penalties.
Doncaster, who slipped back into the bottom two in the table after this defeat, battled hard in the second period but even with home centre PJ Gidlow yellow carded were unable to break through until they were awarded a penalty try 10 minutes from time.
RESULTS
Friday 13th November 2009
Bedford Blues 23-7 Moseley
Saturday 14th November 2009
Birmingham & Solihull 6-21 Coventry
Exeter 22-15 Cornish Pirates
London Welsh 12-26 Plymouth Albion
Rotherham Titans 11-7 Doncaster Knights
Sunday 15th November 2009
Bristol 35-11 Nottingham
WEEK 10
London Welsh bounced back from their setback against Doncaster Knights in style at the Butts Park Arena with a dominant first-half display which set them up for a comfortable 19-10 win and saw Coventry slide to their seventh defeat of the 2009/10 Championship campaign.
The Exiles were ahead after just two minutes thanks to a converted try from Paul Mackey and fly-half Aled Thomas added two penalties for a 13-0 interval lead.
Thomas and home fly-half Joey Carlisle then traded penalties early in the second period before James Hall touched down for Coventry in the 64th minute.
Carlisle’s conversion briefly threatened a home revival before a fourth penalty from Thomas ten minutes from the end settled the affair.
Doncaster Knights, meanwhile, maintained their revival with a fourth straight win and their first five-point haul of the campaign as they finally moved out of the bottom four after beating Birmingham & Solihull.
Centre Hudson Tonga'uiha opened the scoring for the Knights with a converted try after 26 minutes but it took until just before the break before the match really opened up. The first of two penalty tries came moments after Warnock had slotted a penalty as the Bees collapsed a scrum on their own line.
Chris Briers added a third try within two minutes of the restart before Chris Brightwell replied for the visitors on the hour. Hunt converted.
The second penalty try for the Knights came six minutes from time as once again the Bees pack capitulated and in the dying seconds Dougie Flockhart added try number five for the home side.
Moseley fought back from a 20-6 deficit with just 15 minutes played to beat Rotherham Titans 31-27 in a tense battle at Billesley Common.
The Titans were on fire at the start with early tries from Gregor Hayter and Neil Chivers both converted by Jonny West. The young fly-half added a further two penalties in reply to a brace from Moseley’s Andy Borgen as the Midlanders toiled.
Nathan Bressington try after half an hour gave Moseley a glimmer of hope and Ali Muldowney's converted try two minutes into the second half turned the game on its head.
A penalty try to the home side after 52 minutes stole the lead from the Titans as their scrum malfunctioned on their own line. Borgen converted and added two penalties for a 31-20 lead before Jon Feeley's late try for the Titans, converted by West, ensured a nervy finale.
Exeter Chiefs warmed-up for their imminent derby clash with Cornish Pirates with a routine demolition of a woefully under-strength Nottingham side at Leicester Tiger’s Welford Road.
The home side, ravaged by injuries and recalls of dual registered players, never threatened the Chiefs as the Sandy Park side strolled to a tenth successive victory. The visitors were ten points ahead inside ten minutes as Matt Jess’s try, converted by Gareth Steenson, was added to by a couple of Steenson penalties.
Tim Taylor landed an early penalty for the home side and added a second just before the break but in the meantime further tries from Simon Alcott and Haydn Thomas, converted by Steenson, contributed to a 28-6 lead for the Chiefs.
It didn't get any better for Nottingham, who were missing 13 first team players, after the break as the Chiefs quickly added converted tries from James Scaysbrook and Chris Budgen.
Tim Streather claimed a consolation score for the home side deep into stoppage time.
Plymouth Albion, meanwhile, remain rooted in the bottom four after they crashed to a hefty home defeat by second-placed Bristol at Brickfields.
Albion were ruthlessly punished for their mistakes in a second half which saw them leak four tries to the West Country side.
Flanker James Phillips posted the only score of a difficult first half for both teams in tricky weather conditions before Jason Spice added try number two in stoppage time. Jarvis converted as Kieran Hallett replied with a sole penalty for Albion.
Hallet scored his side's only try of the game just shy of the hour mark as Bristol were reduced to fourteen men for the second time.
Bristol's reply was an instant one with hooker David Blaney rounding off a catch and drive move to score, before Luke Arscott and Phillips again punished Albion's repeated indiscretions with two further tries in the final ten minutes.
A missed penalty by full-back Myles Dorrian four minutes from time proved costly for Bedford Blues, who slipped to an agonising one-point away defeat at the Cornish Pirates.
Intense late pressure from the Blues had the Pirates firmly on the back foot as the visitors attempted to snatch back a game they seemingly had control of at the interval, when they led 17-7 courtesy of two unconverted converted tries from Liam Roberts and wing Ian Davey.
Dorrian had earlier kicked them in front with an early penalty before the Pirates responded with a converted try from flanker Blair Cowan.
After the break, the Pirates hit back with a Cook penalty and his conversion added the extras to a try from Pirates skipper Gavin Cattle to tie the game up at 17-17 with the home side’s second try.
Lock Ben Gulliver added a third Pirates try from a quickly taken line-out only for Blues prop Sam Walsh to reply for the Blues with Dorrian converting to edge the Blues into a 24-22 lead.
But Cook stole a vital victory for the Pirates with fifteen minutes to play when his second penalty of the match before Dorrian missed his late chance to snatch it for the Blues at the death.
RESULTS
6th November 2009
Coventry 10-19 London Welsh
7th November 2009
Doncaster Knights 36-7 Birmingham & Solihull
Moseley 31-27 Rotherham Titans
Plymouth Albion 8-33 Bristol
8th November 2009
Cornish Pirates 25-24 Bedford Blues
Nottingham 11-42 Exeter Chiefs
