Taunton Titans 26 Bishop's Stortford 1st XV 45

Stortford enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, despite playing into a stiff breeze and went ahead after 9 minutes, when Alex Rayment touched down from the back of a driving 10m lineout after a series of penalties had been conceded by the home side. Tom Walker converted. The visitors continued to have the bulk of possession but Titans struck decisively after 15 minutes, taking advantage of a missed tackle close to halfway, with Connor Banks running in the try, converted by Louie Sinclair. The home side looked threatening when looking to move the ball, while Stortford had to work harder for ground, as they looked to power up the middle. With 34 minutes gone, though, it was the visitors that made a decisive break with a strike move off a scrum on the opposition 22, Nick Hankin bursting into the line off the 10 to give Chris Smith just enough room to make the line wide out. Walker made a great conversion. This time, Taunton struck back more quickly, levelling the scores with another lightning strike from another, rare Stortford missed tackle, with Deago Bailey touching down and Sinclair again converting. So 14 all at the break with all to play for in this crucial relegation battle.

Taunton threatened early after the break, but were held out and, as Stortford countered, home prop, Isaac Dalton was yellow carded for a high tackle. The visitors quickly took advantage, with Rayment getting his second try. Walker's conversion attempt went narrowly wide. Stortford looked to be getting on top, when Tom Mills touched down only a minute later, running in from halfway, after James Ayrton had picked up a tricky bouncing ball from a misfielded restart kick. Walker added the extras. The home side fought back hard, though and were still playing with 14 men, when Bailey, who had looked threatening all game, got his second try, bursting through the middle of a ruck well outside Stortford's 22 to outpace the cover defence and go under the posts. Sinclair's conversion narrowed his side's deficit to only 5 points. With an hour gone, Mills had a shot at goal from a penalty won by the centre himself for a jackled turnover just inside Stortford's half but the kick fell agonisingly short. The centre made a more telling contribution 10 minutes later, with a half break in midfield to create space outside and crisp handling saw Smith in for his second try. Walker's conversion attempt from out wide went narrowly wide, but he made no mistake 5 minutes later, when Nick Hankin touched down under the posts after pressure, following a crucial turnover by Austin Pope forced a skewed kick from Taunton and quick hands again stretched the home defence to breaking point. Titans threw everything but the kitchen sink into a series of assaults inside Stortford's 22, but these were met by staunch, equally aggressive defence, with Pope again to the fore. Eventually, though, the brick wall was breached and a Taunton forward crashed over for an unconverted try in the corner. With time running out, the visitors poured salt in the wounds of the valiant opposition with a final converted try. Harrison Langworthy, who had been prominent throughout in both attack and defence, took the restart kick on the run, galloping thirty yards before flicking the ball inside and some basketball-style handling by two supporting players saw Chris Bolton in under the posts for a final converted try to trigger wild celebrations by the large cohort of travelling Stortford supporters.