National 2 South
London Irish Wild Geese 45, Taunton Titans 38

AN error-strewn display led to a second damaging defeat in Taunton Titans' stuttering promotion challenge away to mid-table London Irish Wild Geese.

They welcomed back key man Gary Kingdom after he missed last weekend's loss at home to Henley Hawks, but were behind almost from the kick-off, as the hosts build from a line-out to move 7-0 ahead.

Things only got worse from there, as the visiting defence were caught asleep and Wild Geese scored two more converted tries to take a 21-0 lead inside 10 minutes.

The Titans' first try came from their first attack, Dan Frost going over and Gary Kingdom adding the extras.

And soon the gap was down to seven points, as Aron Struminski intercepted the ball on his own 10m line and ran in, with Kingdom making it 21-14.

But the away side could not push on from there, as a driving maul brought up the hosts' bonus-point try, and with Frost sent to the sin bin, a fifth score for the Wild Geese made it 35-14.

With the home side down to 14 after a yellow card of their own, the Titans hit back with a penalty try (the pack pulled down over the line), but Sam Prior was the next man in the bin, and another Wild Geese driving maul try made it 40-21 at half time.

Nick Mason got the second period off to a flier for the away side, but his try went unconverted and the hosts scored five points of their own from the kick-off.

The yellow cards kept coming, with Tom Popham and two Wild Geese players being sent to the bin, and replacements Lewis Webb and Jamie Fleming both scored tries - Toby East converting Fleming's score - to pull it back to 45-38.

A red card for the hosts and yellow for Rob Allen meant the game was 14 players per side at the finish, as the Titans kicked for the corner with the final play - only for an error to scupper their chances.

The defeat sees the Titans fall to third in the league, and after a week off, they host fourth-placed Redingensians on Saturday, November 25 (ko 3pm).

Taunton Titans: Connor Baker, Alex Spurdle, Isaac Dalton, Stu Persey, Blake Lugg, Ratu Vakalutukali, Dan Frost, Sam Prior; Connor Banks, Toby East, Tom Popham, Nick Mason, Freddie Fraser, Aron Struminski, Gary Kingdom.
Replacements: Chris Francis, James Kenny, Jamie Fleming, Rob Allen, Lewis Webb.