Rugby Chat

Sale FC 66–35 Birmingham Moseley

Sale 5 pts | Moseley 1 pt

Sale are making a very strong case for that top-five prediction we discussed.

Two weeks, two huge wins:

* Rams 22–50 Sale
* Sale 66–35 Moseley

That’s 116 points scored in two games.

Moseley actually led 7–0, and were only 35–21 behind early in the second half before Sale pulled away dramatically. But once Sale got their attacking game going, Moseley simply couldn’t contain them.

Sale are no longer an outside top-five shout. They look like genuine contenders.

For Moseley, the encouraging part is that they scored 35 away from home. The concern is the 101 points conceded in two games.

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Bishop’s Stortford 30–61 Rosslyn Park

What a response from Rosslyn Park.

After the extraordinary 61–17 home defeat to Plymouth, they have gone to Stortford and returned the favour!

They were 42–6 ahead at half-time, which is quite extraordinary after what happened last week.

Mehson apparently had a terrific afternoon, scoring three times, while Park’s attack was simply relentless.

Stortford fought back in the second half and scored 24 points, but the damage had already been done.

This is exactly why I said after Round 1 that I wasn’t prepared to write Rosslyn Park off.

Rosslyn Park: Statement made.

And it makes next week’s results even harder to predict!

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Camborne 21–32 Plymouth Albion

Plymouth are now 2 from 2.

And this one may actually tell us more than the 61–17 demolition of Rosslyn Park.

Camborne had just beaten Leeds 38–36 and arrived with plenty of confidence.

Plymouth went 25–0 up and then extended it to 32–7 before Camborne finally found some attacking momentum.

The important thing for Plymouth is that they didn’t need another nine-try extravaganza. They controlled the game and took the five points.

Two wins. Two bonus points. 10 points from 10.

That’s a very serious start.

And it reinforces why we were so high on them in the pre-season predictions.

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Cambridge 31–38 Bury St Edmunds

This is a really good win for Bury.

After losing 53–27 to London Scottish, they could easily have gone into this one with their confidence dented.

Instead, they have gone to Cambridge and won.

Cambridge were 26–17 ahead at half-time, so Bury have produced a 21–5 second-half turnaround.

That’s character.

It also means Cambridge have now lost both games despite scoring 64 points.

That’s a concern.

They’re clearly capable of scoring tries, but conceding 38 and 38 in consecutive weeks isn’t going to get them many victories.

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Dings Crusaders 24–24 Rams

A draw that probably doesn’t do either side any harm, but both will probably feel they could have won it.

Rams led 24–17 early in the second half but couldn’t finish the job.

Dings kept plugging away and got the equaliser through Lloyd in the 71st minute.

After losing 52–42 at Stortford, Dings have now taken three points against one of our pre-season contenders.

And Rams?

22–50 defeat followed by 24–24.

That’s not the start I expected from a team I had high hopes for.

They’ll need to get some consistency very quickly.

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London Scottish 38–39 Tonbridge Juddians

What a result!

Scottish looked almost unstoppable after putting 53 on Bury last week.

Then they lose at home to Tonbridge Juddians.

And the manner of it makes it even more remarkable.

Scottish led 31–29 after 66 minutes.

TJs then scored a penalty and a try to go 39–31 ahead.

Scottish scored in the 79th minute to make it 39–38 — but couldn’t find the winning score.

That’s an enormous result for TJs.

And five points away from home makes it even better.

TJs have gone to the side I thought could be one of the title contenders and beaten them by a point.

That’s the sort of result that can define a season.

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Sheffield 19–12 Leeds Tykes

Another surprise.

Leeds have now lost both of their opening games:

Leeds 36–38 Camborne
Sheffield 19–12 Leeds

But they did at least take a losing bonus point from the game.

Sheffield, meanwhile, have now collected six points from their opening two games, despite not winning in Round 1.

That’s a very useful start for a newly promoted side.

Leeds have plenty of work to do.

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TWO WEEKS IN – WHAT ARE WE LEARNING?

The table is starting to tell us something, but I’m still very reluctant to make major changes after just two rounds.

However, some things are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Plymouth

10 points from 10.

They’ve beaten Rosslyn Park 61–17 and then gone to Camborne and won.

That’s championship-winning form.

Sale

Two huge wins.

They’ve scored 116 points already.

I said top five before the season and I’m now wondering whether we should have put them even higher.

Rosslyn Park

What a response.

The 61–17 defeat clearly wasn’t representative of their ability.

Tonbridge Juddians

Beating London Scottish at their place is probably the result of the round.

Camborne

A win at Leeds followed by a competitive 32–21 defeat to Plymouth.

They’ve certainly shown they belong here.

Leeds

Two defeats.

They’ve scored 48 points but conceded 57.

They need to turn those performances into wins very quickly.

Rams

This is probably the team I’m most concerned about relative to our original prediction.

We had them right up near the top.

One defeat and one draw isn’t disastrous, but they haven’t looked like a top-three side yet.

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And that’s what makes National 1 so good…

After two rounds, we’ve already had:

Plymouth 61–17 Rosslyn Park
Sale 50–22 Rams
Rosslyn Park 61–30 Stortford
London Scottish 38–39 TJs

And that’s before mentioning Camborne winning at Leeds or Bury turning around a 26–17 half-time deficit.

This league is absolutely unpredictable.

What a round of rugby. Nat 1 clubs showing the quality of the league!

Well done to Sheffield RUFC for getting their win in their first season in Nat 1 against a Yorkshire rival.

National league 1 is a difficult and unpredictable league full of quality and any team can win on their day.

The big thing for me is all three promoted teams have settled already.

In recent years they've often spent a while to get going and by the time they've got up to speed it's too little too late.

With 3 down and 1 play off out of 14 the relegation battle could be very interesting. As a Stortford fan I'm always looking over my shoulder at this end of the table!