Rugby Old Reds battle back to secure victory over Worthing
OLD REDCLIFFIANS gained a third National Two South win of the season thanks to a battling bonus-point victory over the Raiders at Scotland Lane. On a windy day in Brislington, Reds blew the visitors away in a confrontational contest.
First on the board with a penalty was Matt McLean for Raiders and their lead was further increased when No 8 Rob Cuffe got the luck of the bounce from a speculative kick to score. McLean added the extras to make it 10-0 to the visitors.
Reds got back into it when prolific try scorer Henry Bird flew into the corner for his 12th try of the season. The deficit was reduced again when fly-half Kieran Hill slotted a penalty.
An interception by centre Christian Gervais led to the next try for Hill, who also added the conversion. Thoughts of a Reds first-half lead were dashed however, when Cuffe added his second try, converted by McLean, just before the break to put Worthing 17-15 in front.
In strengthening wind and horizontal rain, both sides attacked but Worthing conceded a penalty which was struck to the corner by Hill and, from a perfect line-out, Reds captain Dan Fry crossed the line to give his side a 20-17 lead.
The gap was increased when Hill struck a penalty and then added another four minutes later. Following another massive push, centre Jermaine Jones scored the bonuspoint try. The game ended with the visitors scoring the final try through Curtis Barnes.
Clifton gave the leaders an almighty scare before going down 26-19 at Old Bath Road against the Rams. It looked like business as usual for the Berkshire men after racing into a 19-0 lead inside 15 minutes, but Clifton battled back to 19-19 and believe that had a few decisions gone their way, they might have gone on to topple the title favourites in their own backyard.
But it wasn’t to be, and Clifton had to settle for a losing bonus point, while the Rams made it ten wins in a row and are ten points clear at the top of the National Two South table.
Rams made a blistering start to the game, scoring three tries in quick succession through Ben Henderson, Louis Wolf and Jack Steadman - the pick of the bunch came from Wolf as he stormed down the wing to score in the corner following some good work from Alex Seers and Miles Lloyd to put Rams on the front foot.
With Clifton looking as if they might be blown away in this game, they demonstrated their never-saydie attitude and dominated the rest of the half. They came away with two tries for their efforts, flanker Chris Rovery bagging the first and scrum-half Mitch Spencer the second.
Clifton came out in the secondhalf and picked up where they left off as Cameron Terry broke the Rams defensive line to feed Spencer for his second try of the afternoon.
This caused the Rams to shake themselves into gear, having seemingly been asleep for the past 30 minutes. They applied relentless pressure on the Clifton defence and eventually forced the ball over the line through hooker Jamie Gutteridge to regain the lead.
Clifton surged forward seeking the winning try, but the Rams managed to keep them out to chalk up a hard-fought victory.
Dings Crusaders’ two-game winning run was brought to an end by a Taunton side that were good value for their 33-10, bonus-point victory at Shaftesbury Park.
For 65 minutes it looked like it was going to be another close affair, with the Titans holding a slim 14-10 advantage. But two tries in two minutes swung the game in favour of the visitors, who capped it off by scoring their fifth try in the final play of the game.
Crusaders opened the scoring with a penalty from fly-half Steve Plummer, who also added the extras after wing Harry Tovey nipped in to intercept a wayward pass and sprinted in from distance on 21 minutes. But Taunton gradually got themselves back into the match, with No 8 Sam Prior barging over on 36 minutes. Full-back Gary Kingdom converted to make it 10-7 at the turnaround.
The visitors took over in the second half in terms of territory and possession and took the lead on 52 minutes when Nick Mason crossed and Kingdom converted. Tovey was yellow-carded for a high tackle on 65 minutes, which prompted referee Iain Kiy to award Taunton a penalty try. Two minutes later, Dings were back beneath the uprights when Cory Teague crossed for an unconverted try. Scrum-half Jacob Nash grabbed a 79th-minute try, which Kingdom also converted.