The Coventry juggernaut showed no signs of slowing down as they continued their perfect record with victory in Bedfordshire. But Ampthill made them work for it, particularly in a tight first half that saw them cross the whitewash through Kennedy Sylvester and Brandon Jackson. A fine finish from Reggie Hammick helped the hosts take the lead at 21-19 early in the second half, before Tom Mathews' penalty and then Tom Hitchcock’s try on 77 minutes got the visitors over the line.

 

 

In the West London derby, Ealing Trailfinders ran in nine tries to triumph 63-28 over neighbours London Scottish. Trailfinders dominated the first half, leaping into a 42-14 lead and having been introduced in the second half, Henry Walker scored a hat-trick of tries to make the scoreline even more emphatic. Ealing director of rugby Ben Ward said: “It was never going to be a walk in the park. They’re a very good side and their first two tries came from offloading and transition play. “We knew it would take time to get over the line and build a lead, and we did that really well.”

 

 

Tries were less forthcoming in the East Midlands but third-placed Bedford Blues earned an impressive 17-10 win at Nottingham on Friday night. Tries from Nathan Langdon and Dean Adamson earned the visitors a precious interval lead at Lady Bay and Louis James’ second-half try made sure of the spoils. “We knew it would need a gritty performance to win,” said Langdon. “Nottingham are a really good side but we stuck in well and did a good job.”

 

 

On Friday night, Cornish Pirates claimed their first competitive win since the opening day of the season by downing Chinnor 15-13.

They had to come from behind to do so as the visitors assumed a 13-5 half-time lead thanks to a try from Will Feeney and Connor Slevin’s place-kicking. Arthur Relton dived over to hand the Pirates the initiative and Bruce Houston kicked two penalties to earn the south-west side a precious win. “Under pressure in certain areas against a good Chinnor outfit, we needed to come out on the right side of a game like that, and it was a relief to get the monkey off our back,” said Pirates’ joint head coach Gavin Cattle.

 

 

Doncaster Knights ended a run of successive league defeats with a resounding 52-17 win over Cambridge. Knights were particularly dominant in the first half, outscoring the visitors 21-3 in the first 40 minutes, eventually running in eight tries.

Jordan Olowofela scored twice in the last ten minutes to add further sheen to the scoreline with Morgan Strong, Alex Dolly, Zach Kerr, Connor Edwards, Thom Smith and Joe Jones also crossing the whitewash.

 

Elsewhere, Hartpury claimed their fourth win of the season and inflicted a sixth successive Championship defeat on Caldy, running out 40-24 winners. The home side prevailed thanks to two penalty tries and scores from Ethan Hunt, Archie McArthur, Alex Morgan and Joe Rees.