The Championship

A MERE 320 hardy souls braved atrocious conditions at the Athletic Ground on Saturday to watch London Scottish win their Championship basement battle against Moseley. The 28-13 victory mean Scottish have put some daylight between themselves and the bottom three clubs.

CHAMPIONSHIP CLUB rivalry was put on hold on Saturday when a select RFU XV took on the Maori All Blacks at Doncaster’s Castle Park. Despite going down 21-52, head coach Mike Rayer was full of praise for his side: “I’m extremely proud and it was all about the players today. We gave them a framework and they were absolutely terrific,”

NOTTINGHAM FAILED to build on last weekend’s thrashing of Bristol, losing 29-9 to table-leaders Newcastle at Kingston Park on Friday night. The top of the table clash lacked fizz and drama, but Newcastle’s pack once again underlined why they lead the Championship by 12 points, with flanker Mark Wilson the standout player.

KICKING OFF this week’s review are Channel Islanders Jersey, who finally leave the bottom of the table after their second consecutive win. Plymouth, for whom this was their first trip to St. Peter’s, went down 16-14 on Saturday, and have dropped from third to sixth in their last three outings.

AS PREDICTED in last week’s column, the pick of the round seven matches was Bristol’s clash with Bedford at the Memorial Ground on Sunday. Back-to-back wins in the British & Irish Cup have given Bristol’s season new momentum and it showed with a 23-13 victory over Bedford, unbeaten in the division before Sunday’s trip to the West Country.

JERSEY FINALLY registered their first win of the season at the eighth attempt, with a 27-33 win over Leeds on Saturday in the British & Irish Cup. Leeds were the worst offenders in a match hampered by poor discipline and littered with yellow cards.

THE BRITISH & Irish Cup kicked-off this weekend after a major makeover due to last season’s antics, which saw some clubs using it as an opportunity to rest key players and to rotate their squad. The competition, now in its fourth year, includes 32 teams split into eight pools, with only the winner

NOTTINGHAM TRADED places with Plymouth and moved into third in the Championship by virtue of a 48-16 win over Jersey, at Meadow Lane on Friday. The Green and Whites were firing on all cylinders, with tries from Andy Savage,

NEWCASTLE FALCONS stay top of the class by virtue of giving Leeds a lesson in finishing at Kingston Park on Friday night, writes Richard Grainger.
This match-up was tipped as the pick of the weekend’s games as Leeds scored 50 points against Bristol in round four. However, Carnegie were forced to defend for most of the game as the hosts ran…

HERE’S a bit of statistical analysis to kick-off this week’s Championship blog, writes Richard Grainger.
In the Championship — which doesn’t have a sponsor — 355 points were scored in round four. That’s an average of 59 points over six games. Compare that to the Premiership — which is sponsored by Aviva, where a mere 272 points were scored, at an…