Boss Barnes is delighted with victory

HARTPURY moved up to third place in the Greene King IPA Championship with an excellent 62-19 victory at London Scottish.

The Gloucestershire side have taken 15 points from five games and sit just one point behind second-placed Richmond and leaders Ealing, who have a game in hand.

Red & Blacks director of rugby John Barnes was well pleased with the performance.

“We’re delighted with the win and the five points,” he said.

“We were a little bit frustrated at half-time with some aspects of our performance and the fact that we let them back into the game.”

“It was important we managed to put the game to bed early in the second half and it was good to see some of the returning players getting some game time.”

George Simpson and Will Crane both touched down twice, while there were also tries for Harry Short, Charlie Foley, Robbie Smith, Oscar Lennon and Nahum Merigan.

In National League One, tabletopping Cinderford make it eight wins from eight and moved seven points clear at the top with a hard-fought 26-21 home triumph over West rivals Taunton Titans.

The Somerset side took the lead when fast hands through the centres got the ball out to Charlie Wright, who ran in beneath the posts. Jack Walsh converted to give Taunton a 7-0 lead.

Cinderford soon found their feet, however, levelling the scores as Will Hendy shot up the wing to score in the corner, and Reece Boughton converted smartly.

Taunton applied pressure again, but the home side did well in defence until Walsh dived through to score.

The Foresters, however, took a 19-14 advantage into the break as Nathan Taylor notched a quickfire double from lineout drives.

The second half was tighter, but Cinderford eventually extended their margin as Taylor completed a hat-trick of touchdowns from lineout mauls.

Wright hit back for Taunton, with Walsh converting, but the Somerset side could not get any closer as the Gloucestershire side took the honours.

In National League Two South, meanwhile, Clifton absolutely crushed bottom-of-the-table side Westcliff 106-17.

The Essex side were just about hanging on at 24-10 down after half an hour, but the Bristol outfit scored a further 21 points before the break, and then outscored the visitors 61-7 in the second period to reach a superb century of points.

Clifton now lie fifth in the table with 27 points, four points off the top, while Dings Crusaders are tenth, seven behind their Bristol neighbours.

Dings were on the wrong end of a 50-27 scoreline away to St Albans outfit Old Albanian.