Oundle Rugby Club demolish the leaders to blow National League title race wide open

It was billed as a potential title decider between the top two, but it turned into a massive mismatch. Oundle picked up the maximum five points and denied their visitors anything in return to cut the gap at the top to just one point with just six games to play. Third-placed Bury St Edmunds are just two points behind Oundle so an exciting end to the season is in store.

But Oundle could well be the team to beat after a statement seven-try success. The local side dominated all areas of the game to run out worthy winners.

The home side’s scoring started in the 12th minute following a driving maul which saw Grant Snelling power over the line with Ben Young adding the conversion.

And in the 24th minute Oundle went further ahead with what was probably the try of the match. A delicate chip over the visiting defence was collected by centre Cormack Colman who fed the impressive Lewis Finlay, who dashed 30 metres to score between the posts. Young added the extras to make the score 14 -0. Oundle had Albanians on the ropes because of their superior physicality and they went further ahead when number eight Anthony Maka touched down and Young kicked the conversion to make it 21-0.

The leaders did threaten a revival when scoring two converted tries, when Oundle had both Lawrence Rayner and Rian Hamilton in the sinbin, to reduce their deficit to 21-14 at the break, but it proved to be an illusion.

Everyone expected Old Albanians would come out fighting in the second-half, but tries for Harry Morley and Jac Arthur promptly sent Oundle clear again as well as securing the try bonus point. A tiring team were further punished by a penalty try and the comprehensive victory was sealed with a try from replacement hooker Harry Nichols. Young finished with five conversions.

The win avenged an early season defeat for Oundle in St Albans. The local lads next travel to fifth-placed Canterbury for a tough fixture next Saturday (February 28).

Standings (all played 20): 1 Old Albanians 81pts, 2 Oundle 80pts, 3 Bury St Edmunds 78pts, 4 Barnes 65pts, 5 Canterbury 63pts, 6 Dorking 62pts, 7 Westcombe Park 59pts, 8 Havant 53pts, 9 London Welsh 53pts, 10 Guernsey 50pts, 11 Esher 43pts, 12 Sevenoaks 36pts, 13 Henley 35pts, 14 Oxford Harlequins 18pts.

Thanks to a pitch being made available by Thorney Rugby Club, Oundle seconds scored a massive 66-12 win over Stockwood Park putting them nine points clear of nearest rivals Leighton Buzzard at the top of Counties 2 Midlands East (South). There was senior debuts for four Oundle Colts in this game. Oundle have won all 15 league games so far and picked up a try bonus point in all of them.

Standings: 1 Oundle II P15 75pts, 2 Leighton Buzzard P15 66pts, 3 Stockwood Park P15 60pts, 4 Old Laurentians P15 50pts, 5 St Ives P14 49pts, 6 Northampton Casuals P15 38pts, 7 St Neots P15 37pts, 8 Rushden & Higham P15 36pts, 9 Peterborough Lions P14 23pts, 10 Brackley P15 20pts, 11 Huntingdon & District P14 10pts, 12 Rugby Lions P15 -17pts.

Peterborough RUFC, Peterborough Lions, Stamford and Thorney were all without fixtures this weekend.