Loan watch: Six-try Dings storm to victory

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Photos: Dings Crusaders / John White

National Two South
Dings 32-10 Canterbury

Dings, featuring Andrew Turner, George Kloska and Ashley Challenger, ended a five-game losing run with a resounding six-tries to two victory over Canterbury at Shaftesbury Park. There was nothing in it during a competitive and edgy first-half, but the visitors had to make a lot of tackles, which eventually took its toll as the contest wore on.

The home side opened the scoring with a multiphase attack finished off by wing Tom Hargan. Canterbury responded with a try from a driving line-out - tight-head prop Danny Herriott going over in the 26th minute to cut the gap.

More pressure resulted in full-back Hugo Harbinson darting over for Dings’ second unconverted try. And the home side stretched their scoreboard advantage after wing Tommy Foot evaded several would be defenders to score try number three for Dings.

Crusaders really upped the ante after the turnaround and played some superb rugby. Scrum-half Tom Knight caught the visitors napping with a quick tapped penalty, which saw him dash in under the posts for a try converted by fly-half Tom Price. Canterbury got their second try thanks to a well taken effort from hooker Tristan King.

Dings, though, were not done yet and added to their try tally when centre Matt Smith sliced through the midfield to add a fifth-try for the hosts. And Dings underlined their dominance with another unconverted try from prop Ashley Challenger in the final act of the game to cement the try bonus-point victory.

Dings Knights, meanwhile, cruised to a 42-10 Gloucester Premier win over Bristol Saracens at Station Road.

Dings tries: Hargan 22, Harbinson 35, Foot 40, Knight 55, Smith 77, Challenger 80. Conversion: Price 56.

Canterbury tries: Herriott 26, King 64

Dings: 15 Harbinson; 14 Foot, 13 Smith, 12 Arscott, 11 Hargan, 10 Price, 9 Knight; 1 Challenger, 2 Anderson, 3 Kloska, 4 Bilton O, 5 Hodge, 6 Lawrence, 7 Beer, 8 Holcombe. Reps: 16 Turner, 17 English, 18 Bilton A, 19 Gasson, 20 Tovey.

Canterbury: 15 Corcoran; 14 Sterling, 13 Morgan, 12 Braithwaite, 11 Hilton, 10 Best, 9 Williams; 1 Young, 2 King, 3 Herriott, 4 Cadman, 5 Stephens, 6 Waddington, 7 Evans, 8 Oliver. Reps: 16 McColl, 17 Rayleigh-Strutt, 18 Churchyard, 19 Cooper, 20 Reynolds.

Referee: Tom Evans-Jones.

National Two South
Hinckley 15-28 Clifton

Clifton made it nine wins in a row with victory at Hinckley, as Charlie Powell, Harry Ascherl and Tomas Gwilliam all starred on the road.

Max Woodward's 76th minute try sealed a win that, for periods of this game looked to be in question. Hinckley proved themselves to be a stubborn team to breakdown, their physical pack gaining the upper hand in the close exchanges for much of the first half, but sustained pressure in the last 20 minutes where Clifton repeatedly banged on the door saw the squad return from the East Midlands on Saturday evening with their tenth successive win in the bag having gained maximum points to consolidate their top position in National League South.

Clifton pressure from the kick off led to the Hornets making an error ridden performance plus discipline breaches leading to two yellow cards in the first twelve minutes. The constant pressure was backed by the kicking of fly half Luke Cozens who added the extras to the four tries scored. Those tries created the bonus point keeping the lavender and blacks on top of the table.

Ricky Cano went over in the first few minutes after sustained pressure from the driving lineout and Hinckley were guilty of multiple infringements as they looked to keep pace with the league leaders. A quickfire score from Alex Howman after Hinckley again put pressure on the line. A score off Hinckley's driving lineout gave them some momentum and Clifton were again under the pump at scrum time with minutes to go before Mitch Spencer disrupted, fed Cozens who chipped to Howman to send Alex Forrester in and land a cruel counter-punch to Scott Hamilton's side to give Clifton a 21-5 half time lead.

The Hornets had their moments at the start of the second half, came back with two unconverted tries, and for a while an exciting end of game was in prospect but Clifton know how to squeeze life out of opponents with their final try securing the win.