Nottingham Rugby and London Scottish have the honour of getting
Round 14 of the Greene King IPA Championship underway when they
meet at Meadow Lane on Friday night. Third-placed Scottish have an
impressive record on the road this season having won away six times
in all competitions. Nottingham, who have not won in the league
since mid-November and currently occupy 10th place, will
be well aware of the threat posed by the Championship's top
try-scorer Miles Mantella, the former Harlequins speedster having
scored a hat-trick in a 27-6 win for Scottish when the sides last
met back in September.
Rotherham Titans made it nine wins on the bounce with a 35-22
victory over Jersey in St Peter, a result that also temporarily
took them to the top of the Championship table until being
supplanted by London Welsh who beat Leeds Carnegie on Sunday.
Rotherham and Moseley are familiar league foes having played each
other a total of 30 times, the Titans winning 22 and scoring over
1,000 points in the process. Saturday's clash will be their third
meeting this season, the Titans having won 42-24 at Castle Park on
the opening day and 47-21 a fortnight later at Billesley
Common.
It was third plays second when Plymouth Albion and London Welsh
last met with the season only two weeks old. After a tight
first half, Albion lost two men to the sin bin and Welsh took
advantage to pull away and win 40-9, Gordon Ross converting all
four of their tries and kicking four penalties for a 20-point haul.
Four months on, as they prepare to play the return fixture at
Brickfields, Welsh are on top of the Championship table and Albion
are back in 9th.
Sunday's fixture list sees play-off contenders Bristol Rugby,
Cornish Pirates and Leeds Carnegie all at home to sides below them
in the table. Pirates play host to bottom-of-the-table Ealing
Trailfinders, whose recent good run of results came to an end with
a 22-12 defeat at Moseley. Two tries from wing Kieran Goss helped
Pirates to a 31-17 win when they visited Vallis Way earlier this
season.
Bristol host a Jersey side who have picked up two points from a
possible 25 since they last tasted victory in the league - a 27-25
win against Cornish Pirates in mid-November. A three-try
blitz accounted for Jersey when the sides met in St Peter, early
tries from Ruki Tipuna and Tristan Roberts (2) - and a later effort
from Ryan Edwards - setting them on their way to a 26-17
bonus-point win.
Leeds Carnegie take on Bedford Blues at Headingley for the first
time in two years. Last year's 'on the road' game at Otley
was called off by referee Ian Tempest with just over an hour gone
due to a frozen surface. The Blues led 45-25 at the time and the
result stood. Nineteen points from the boot of Alex Lozowski and
tries from Jonah Holmes and Stevie McColl saw Leeds secure an
impressive win at Goldington Road in Round 3.
Round 14 fixtures
Friday January 31, KO
Nottingham Rugby v London Scottish, KO 20:00
Saturday February 1, KO
Rotherham Titans v Moseley, KO 14:00
Plymouth Albion v London Welsh, KO 15:00
Sunday February 2, KO
Cornish Pirates v Ealing Trailfinders, KO 14:00
Bristol Rugby v Jersey, KO 15:00
Leeds Carnegie v Bedford Blues, KO 15:00
