National 2 South

Taunton Titans 43, Chinnor 56

A SLOW start cost Taunton Titans dear as they were beaten by promotion chasing Chinnor in a high-scoring clash at the Commsplus Stadium.

Three converted tries in the opening stages handed Chinnor a 21-0 advantage which proved too much for Taunton to overcome, despite a valiant effort thereafter.

Aron Struminski went over for the Titans' first points of the afternoon but that was quickly followed by two more scores for the visitors, both of which was converted, as they went 35-5 up.

Taunton belatedly managed to get hands on the ball towards the end of the half and were rewarded through two Freddie Fraser tries, each converted by Gary Kingdom, to reduce the deficit to 35-19 at half-time.

Any hopes of a stirring second half fightback were quickly dampened when a Titans kick was charged down and Chinnor went in under the posts, with the visitors adding another soon after.

Jack Claydon scored a fine individual effort as the tries kept coming, with Paul Davis then going over to seal a bonus point for the hosts.

Taunton then went down to 13 players as Sam Prior and Dave Edwards were sin-binned - perhaps inevitably Chinnor made them pay with a try in the corner as they went past 50 points.

The Titans at least ensured they had the last word as Claydon and centre Oli Carter scored late on - Kingdom added the extras to both as a pulsating clash ended 56-43 in Chinnor's favour.

Taunton Titans: Dave Edwards, Andy Hamilton, Aaron Wilman, Stu Persey, Andy England, Paul Davis, Charlie Samways, Jamie Fleming, Connor Banks, Gary Kingdom, Jack Claydon, Freddie Fraser, Oli Carter, Aron Struminski, Ollie Rice.

Replacements: Charlie Tribble, Sam Prior, Ratu Vakalutukali, Brett Harvey, Lewis Webb