London Irish and Bristol, the clubs propping up the Allied Dunbar First Division table, found the Cheltenham & Gloucester Cup much more to their liking yesterday with morale-boosting home wins over Second Division opponents.
The Exiles ran in four tries while beating Orrell 26-19 and Bristol went three better in their 50-14 hammering of Coventry.
A bad-tempered game at the Memorial Ground boiled over when Coventry's former Bristol centre Garath Reayer was sent off for stamping although the visitors later claimed it was a case of mistaken identity. In addition, two home players, Kevin Maggs, who makes his Ireland debut against Canada next Sunday, and Craig Short, were yellow-carded for dangerous tackles.
Cambridge University's preparations for the Varsity Match in just over a fortnight suffered an unwelcome jolt when they lost 37-15 at London Scottish, two of whose six tries came from their scrum-half Colin Morley. In the other C&G ties, Wakefield won 17-5 at Fylde, Moseley, with the former Leicester and England A wing Steve Hackney touching down twice, beat Waterloo 37-20, and Rotherham piled up eight tries en route to thrashing Exeter 55-22.
Worcester are back on top of Jewson National League One following a 62- 15 victory at Reading and a surprise 33-17 home defeat for the previous leaders, London Welsh, by Newbury. Caerphilly maintained their two-point lead in the Welsh National League First Division with a 30-22 success at Cross Keys and Shannon opened their bid for a fourth successive Irish First Division title by defeating visitors Dungannon 20-13.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies