Week Five: Bitter Pill

Hartpury and Nottingham opened the round on Friday evening in Gloucestershire

with the visitors fighting back for the win after a slow start.

Their five tries to two, 20-32 victory moved them ahead of Coventry and Doncaster into third place on the same points as second-place Ampthill, but with an inferior points-difference record, while also having played an extra game.

Attendance: 745

Pipping Nottingham to that second place on Saturday afternoon were Doncaster, still smarting from a bruising defeat seven days earlier, but managing to turn things round with a tight 5-1, 29-24 victory over bottom-placed London Scottish at Castle Park.

Attendance: 2264

Bedford initially made heavy weather of getting to grips with visitors Cambridge in front of their biggest crowd of the season, and biggest on the day. It was nip and tuck for the first half, but The Blues steadily pulled away with eight tries (three from Sean French) to prevail with a 5-0,  59-19 scoreline.

Attendance: 2988

Ampthill would have hoped to maintain their impressive run with a win over Cornish Pirates at home, but it was not to be, and they had to relinquish their second place slot after a heavy 46-24, 5-0 defeat.

Attendance: 852

Cov ultimately had to concede defeat to league leaders Ealing after a first half where they'd looked anything but second best, going into the break 8-7 up thanks to a fine Jimmy Martin try and a penalty from the boot of Pat Pellegrini. The second half, however, was a different story as the Blue and Whites' severely weakened front row creaked, conceding several scrum penalties, and eventually succumbed to three further tries to finish on the wrong end of a 31-13 final score. Will Rigg added a late consolation, but it was never going to be enough to gain the bonus, finishing 5-0 to the home side. Had results from the tee been somewhat different, maybe a bonus could have been earned, but while Ealing's four scores were converted, both of Cov's went begging.

It was not to be this week, but at least now Cov can look forward to a home tie against Hartpury, hopefully shored-up somewhat in the front row, while Bedford and Doncaster face tricky trips.

Attendance: 1237

Championship Table

Ealing: Played 5, Points 25

Doncaster: 5, 19

Nottingham: 5, 16

Ampthill: 5, 16

C. Pirates: 4, 15

Bedford: 4, 14

Coventry: 4, 11

Hartpury: 5, 6

Caldy: 4, 6

Cambridge: 5, 3

L. Scottish: 4, 1

Championship Average Attendances

Coventry: 3014

Bedford: 2594

Doncaster: 2064

C. Pirates: 1337

Caldy: 1268

Cambridge: 1197

Nottingham: 1094

Ealing: 1024

Ampthill: 772

L. Scottish: 763

Hartpury: 616

Good to see both 'newcomers' Caldy and Cambridge holding up so well at this stage.