Hartpury still bottom after Friday defeat

HARTPURY remain bottom of the GKIPA Championship following their 25-8 defeat away to London Scottish on Friday night.

Luke Cozens gave the visitors an early 3-0 lead, but this was soon cancelled-out by the hosts’ Rory Jennings.

Rob Stevenson put Scottish in front when Hartpury coughed up possession cheaply and he ran in under the posts.

Jennings converted and also added a penalty to make it 13-3 to the hosts at half-time.

Scottish got well on top in the second half, although it was not until the 57th minute that they extended their lead, Grayson Hart darted over from close in and Jennings again converting.

Hartpury at least kept the home side out for much of the remainder, although Matt Davidson at last barged his way over for an unconverted score.

There was still time for Ben Foley to catch out the Scottish defence for a consolation try, but Hartpury were well beaten.

■ In National League One, midtable Cinderford saw off Loughborough Students 45-36 in a highly-entertaining encounter that produced 13 tries.

The visitors got off to a flying start through second row Thibaud Flament, but the home side came back with an Alex Frame score.

Cinderford took the lead when hooker Nathan Taylor got the ball over the try line, then winger Sam Smith showed some good footwork to score under the posts.

Taylor then added the bonuspoint try, but Flament second try made it 24-14 at the interval.

The home side were first to score in the second half when Toby Dabell went over, but winger Alex Glashan responded.

Two further tries for Cinderford from replacement hooker Tom Bozzard and centre Jack Hayes, both of which were converted, stretched the lead to 45-19.

The Students refused to give up, though, and Jack Moates, Flament for his hat-trick, and Harry Mahoney all scored late tries.

■ Taunton Titans are up into second place in National Two South after winning their sixth successive game – 27-17 over visiting Birmingham & Solihull.

However, there is a 15-point gap between Titans and leaders The Rams, who comfortably beat Old Albanians 36-21 at home.

The crunch for Titans comes this coming weekend when they play away to Canterbury, in third, who surprisingly lost 23-20 away to Dings Crusaders.

With only two points separating Titans and Canterbury, it is a must-win game for both teams.

In a scrappy game throughout, Titans’ try-scorers were Ollie Rice (2), the first after 35 seconds, Sam Brown, Charlie Williams and Aron Struminski

Elsewhere, Clifton won 49-29 at Worthing, and Old Reds beat the London Irish Wild Geese 37-22.