Week 9 round up

It is now very tight at the top of the Championship. With London Welsh currently confounding the doubters with their unbeaten run, their challengers are all closing up together, so much so that only 3 points separate Bristol in second place, from their weekend conquerors in Cornwall down in sixth.

The weekend action got underway ay Brickfields on Friday, and somewhat surprisingly, Bedford Blues seemed rejuvenated as they overcame their West Country hosts to gain a much needed win. Sadly for the Albion, it created a gap between them and the teams above them in the table, and may well be the result that eliminates Sir Francis Drake’s boys from the end of season lottery.

As expected,Rotherham, and London Welsh were victorious on Saturday, but neither collected a bonus point. Rotherham conceded numerous penalties; in fact Nottingham missed 5 kicks at goal, a fact that only underlines how vital a reliable kicker is. However, the Titans remain in third place.  Welsh managed to cross the whitewash on three occasions at Moseley, and this win takes them 9 points clear at the head of the table, they obviously learned a lot in the Premiership.

Sunday saw London Scottish gatecrash the top four with a 5 try bonanza at the Trailfinders, while Leeds returned to winning ways, when they scored three tries to overcome Jersey. The scoreboard pressure was mounting at Headingley, but 3 good penalty kicks from Glyn Hughes provided the breathing space before Griffin’s last minute try put the icing on the cake.

As expected, the tightest game came in the West Country derby at The Mennaye, and it was the home side who eventually managed to overcome a deficit and gain another success over Bristol. Despite wins for both Leeds and Pirates both dropped a league position, although only points difference puts London Scottish above them.

As a result of all that, the top of the table looks like this:- 

Even with 14 games still to play, it would be a brave man who would bet against London Welsh missing out on the play offs, but it seems now that there are five teams fighting for 3 places. Plenty left to play for then, and this coming weekend sees the last round of matches before another break for some cup competition or other takes over. Nobody will want to lose ground this weekend, but the fixture list dictates that somebody must.

We’ll look ahead to the next round of fixtures later in the week.