National 2 South
Old Albanians 21, Taunton Titans 35

TAUNTON Titans bounced back from last weekend's home defeat by Henley Hawks with a victory at Old Albanians that keeps them within touching distance of National 2 South leaders Rams.

As one of the travelling supporters said, “They were as good this week as they were bad last!” and that they were, even if it was just for 40 minutes.

The Titans dominated the home pack in all departments during the game, and it was the forwards that opened the scoring after 10 minutes, when after several pick-and-goes flanker Jarrard Hayler powered over.

Gary Kingdom added the extras and did the same a few minutes later when the forwards rumbled over from a driving maul, with Alfie Petch flopping over on his first start for the Titans.

Lewis Webb then added a third try on 33 minutes and Kingdom the extras, before Old Albanians claimed their first points on the stroke of half time, with a try and conversion from Daniel Watt.

It was the home side who came out all guns blazing after the break to claim a second converted try, this one through winger Peter Warne.

Taunton then went back to basics and drove the home side towards the line in a scrum, only for them to stop the progress illegally which resulted in a penalty try on 62 minutes.

Just a minute after that, prop Connor Baker made it five Titans tries with a strong drive once again from the forwards, and with Kingdom converting once again the score was 35-14.

It was the home side that finished the strongest, claiming a third try through Toby Munday, converted by Watts.

Albanians then chased the bonus point but some strong defence held them out to claim the five points on the road.

Next Saturday sees Taunton host 10th-placed Bury St Edmunds at the Commsplus Stadium (ko 3pm).

Taunton Titans: Gary Kingdom, Ollie Rice, Nick Mason (c), Toby East, Aron Struminski, Oli Toomey, Lewis Webb, Connor Baker, Alex Spurdle, Alfie Petch, Milo Reynolds, Barrie-John Chapman, Ratu Vakalutukali, Jarrard Hayler, Dan Lee.
Replacements: Sam Williams, Isaac Dalton, Ben Oliphant-Thompson, Stu Persey, Sam Brown.