Young steers Exeter home in battle of heavyweights

LOUGHBOROUGH and Exeter are traditional powerhouses at this level and they proved why in a committed encounter won 17-15 by the West Country visitors.

Max Hill cut an undefendable line midway through the first half to open proceedings for Loughborough. Chris Davies converted.

Defence dominated the remainder of the half but on the brink of the interval Exeter hit back with a Sam Laity try, converted by the dependable Ted Landray.

Exeter were quickly into their stride after the restart as James McRae punished a drowsy Loughborough. The inclement conditions challenged even the truest of kicks and Landray missed the extras.

Loughborough battled back to parity when Sam Grahamslaw burrowed over but Exeter restarted determinedly and went 12-17 up from Callum Young’s try. A Tom Ffitch penalty made for a 15-17 gap and a taught finish but Loughborough spilled in the final play and Exeter held on.

Bath chalked up their second win of the campaign – 24-22 against

Hartpury – to leave a visibly relieved coach Aaron James saying: “The boys are rapped, It’s a real scalp.”

A close match saw Bath score first. Austin Hay dotted down and Will Flinn slotted the extras before Elias Caven got the Hartpury scoreboard rolling with a penalty.

Scott Russell extended The Brothers’ lead to 12-3 and with Alex Saville binned things weren’t looking promising for ’Pury.

They rallied, though, with substitute Tom Heard crossing and Caven adding the extras. Scott Russell restored the gap once more, this time with Flynn on target but again they were pegged back. Maliq Holden scored and Caven’s conversion was successful.

The game was delicately poised 19-17 heading into the final act when Toby Hill gave the away side the lead for the first time.

Levi Davis, however, sent the home crowd into raptures snatching victory and a bonus at the death. Travelling specialists

Leeds Beckett sprung a shock on table toppers

Northumbria defeating them 17-27 at a saturated Kingston Park.

Beckett bludgeoned their way to four points with their abrasive pack bullying the men in black.

Converted tries from Will Muir and Suva Maasi plus a penalty from Josh Bragman were no match to Beckett’s penalty try opener followed by touch downs from Jonny Teague and Harry Robinson. Davies supplemented the score with two conversions and two penalties taking Beckett to third place in the table.

Friday’s late fixture saw Durham consign

Nottingham Trent to their eighth defeat in a row as Trent struggled after the dismissal of Mike Ozdilli.

Tom Catterick got the scoreboard ticking with a couple of early penalties before Tom Lewis scythed through for the first try of the game giving Durham and 11-0 lead.

Durham continued to pile on the points on with two swift second half scores from Luke Chadwick and another form Lewis, one converted by Catterick.

Depleted Trent eventually got on the scoreboard via an opportunistic tap from Harry Graham but the night belonged to The Palatinate 5-23.