Championship review - Week 8

With the weekend fixtures completed and despite Leedsbeing the only team in the top 7 to not pick up any league points, it is good to see they remain in 4th place in the league table. 

Bedford got this round of matches underway on Friday evening, playing host to Moseley, and it was the visitors who ran out comfortable winners in the end, a defeat which was to see the Blues slip to next to bottom of the ladder.

Saturday saw Leeds  somewhat surprisingly turned over at London Scottish, but it was by all accounts no more than the hosts deserved, and they are now closing in on a play off position, only one point behind fourth place. It sounds a little like the affair at Donny last season, where Leeds went following a  good performance the previous week, to seemingly just having to turn up to take the points. If this result has the same effect, we needn’t worry. Jersey also overcame the Pirates in a close affair, the islanders fighting back from a half time deficit to snatch a narrow victory, and dent Cornish hopes of moving up the table, although the visitors bonus point moved them level with Carnegie, only a better points difference in favour of the Yorkshire side giving them the edge.

On Sunday all the action took place on football grounds. London Welsh continued their unbeaten run, with another 5 point victory against strugglers Ealing Trailfinders at the Kassam. A score of 28 – 0 was probably less than most expected, but a look at the team sheet suggests the exiles rested a few key players for this encounter. Bristol also scored 4 tries at the Memorial Ground as they inflicted a second successive defeat on the Titans, although once again, the side fromSouth Yorkshire  launched a spirited second half fight back, only for a late penalty goal to deny them a losing bonus point. Finally, at Meadow Lane, 5 penalty goals from Nottingham full back Jarvis were enough to give his side a morale boosting win against Plymouth Albion.

The top of the table tonight looks like this:-

So, all in all, not much damage done to Leeds as far as league positions go, and with 15 games still remaining, a lot can happen. It is certainly congested from third place down, and if Leeds, or any of the others in the mix, aspires to playing in the end of season lottery, then they need to string a few good results together, to give themselves some breathing space.

Next weekend, Bristol make the journey down to Cornwall, while the other 5 teams at the top all avoid each other. If any of them are to slip up, let us hope it is not Leeds.