National league 1 results round up week 28....

...Saturday 16th April 2016 including Blackheath v Coventry Rugby.

Week 28 Results Saturday 16th April 2016.

Ampthill & District                       25           21             Fylde                      crowd       238

Blackheath                                    20           20             Coventry Rugby                      520

Darlington Mowden Park          27            13             Esher                                H     682

Hartpury College                         29           33             Richmond                                500

Henley Hawks                              31           20             Blaydon                                   285

Loughborough Students            24           28             Plymouth Albion             L     223      

Rosslyn Park                                 43           10            Cinderford                               426

Wharfedale                                   10          18             Hull Ionians                            580

At last you can be rid of your calculator, your runes and rattling bones as both the title and relegation issues were settled in Week 28 still with 2 games to go , before it has to be said some very low crowds.

Richmond are promoted to the Championship, whose place in NL1 is being taken by Moseley following their loss on Friday night and Ealing’s win today, whilst relegation is now confirmed  for both Cinderford and Wharfedale to join Henley Hawks. Macclesfield as Champions of NL2 North will take one of their places, with Cambridge of NL2 South probably taking the other automatic place, with a play-off expected to be between Sedgley Park and Old Albanian, for the third place.

An exciting, fast, furious and fluctuating game saw leaders Richmond duly confirm their elevation to the Championship with a bonus point win at closest challengers Hartpury College.  College never gave up and a late yellow card for the visitors gave the home side the impetus to go in front. However we have seen this season that Richmond with only 3 defeats can never be written off as a late try sealed it for them. With rumours abounding that some of Hartpury starlets will be off to higher levels it will be interesting to see what their recruitment policy will be next season.

Ampthill & District were able to consolidate their 3rd place with a bonus point win over Fylde, whose excellent defence in the first half kept the home side at bay for most of it. A bright start to the 2nd half saw Ampthill seemingly get in a winning position before the dreaded yellow cards gave Fylde  a chance, which they took ,taking the lead. However Ampthill never gave up and a last minute try by Ma’ama Molitika sealed the win for them.

Coventry Rugby maintained their unbeaten run, now up to 4, by coming back strongly in the 2nd half after trailing 17-3 at half-time to draw with 4th placed Blackheath. With Matt Jones not available for understandable reasons, the switch of Caolan Ryan to No 10 in place of Scott Hamilton seemed to spark the Coventry side into a more positive mind set. A yellow card against Blackheath helped Coventry whose three 2nd half tries almost won it for them. With Plymouth Albion being deducted 30 points this draw moves Coventry Rugby up to the heady heights of 8th place.

Another win for Plymouth Albion at Loughborough Students, would have seen them in 4th place, but with the news that 30 points are to be deducted for going into Administration the deduction drops them down to 10th place. Before the game the Students were still not safe but the defeats of both Cinderford and Wharfedale made this defeat more palatable. Seemingly cruising at half-time Albion then lost 3 players to yellow cards as LS fought back to within 4 points, but Albion held on for the win.

Darlington Mowden Park put behind them last week’s loss at Coventry with 2 early tries over Esher. Once again two second half yellow cards gave the visitors a boost as Esher got within a score of the home side, before DMP stirred themselves and made the game safe with a late try. This win takes the home side up to 5th with Esher now dropping down to 6th place.

It was last chance saloon at Rosslyn Park for Cinderford, as the required win was not forthcoming as the home side confirmed their better late league form with a large bonus point win. The home bonus point was already achieved within the first 30 minutes as Cinderford had no answer to the all round game of Park. More of the same in the 2nd half,with Park getting 19 unanswered points. This defeat has left the Foresters relegated and probably back in NL2 South.

It was also goodbye to Wharfedale as their home defeat to Hull Ionians finally sealed their fate after a few seasons of just escaping the drop, and 20 seasons in this league. Not for the first time this season Wharfedale’s discipline cost them dear with 2 first half penalties being kicked by the visitors. A 2nd half third quarter fightback gave Dale some hope before yellow cards gave Hull the chance to score 2 late tries to seal the win and sending Wharfedale down.

The final game was a dead rubber between already relegated Henley Hawks and already safe Blaydon. The Hawks who have shown admirable spirit recently were for once able to score 4 tries to give them a rare try bonus point as they surprised a Blaydon  side who often don’t travel well. The lead fluctuated a number of times before two late tries for Henley gave them a deserved win.

Tom Little

Coventry Rugby press office

18th April 2016.