National 2 South

Tonbridge Juddians 46, Taunton Titans 17

TAUNTON Titans’ defensive frailties were evident once more as Tonbridge Juddians ran out comfortable winners in Kent.

Having shipped 51 points in their last away match at Barnes three weeks ago, the Titans were put to the sword again on a disappointing afternoon.

The tone was set early on as the hosts scored converted tries from each of their first two attacks. Gary Kingdom’s penalty got the Titans on the board but, as they looked to add to their tally, an interception try opened up a 21-3 lead for the Juddians.

Chris Francis bundled over for Taunton’s first try of the afternoon, which Kingdom converted, but the home side had the last word of the opening period with an unconverted score of their own to take a 26-10 advantage into the break.

Tonbridge slotted a penalty before Ollie Rice burst over to provide Taunton with a glimmer of hope, Kingdom’s conversion reducing the deficit to 29-17.

It was just a glimmer, however, as they turned out to be Taunton’s final points of the afternoon. Tonbridge began to cut the Titans open at will and added three more tries of their own, one of which was converted, to comprehensively take the spoils and consign Taunton to a third straight defeat.

The Titans will look to avoid a fourth consecutive reverse next Saturday, when Old Redcliffians are the visitors to the Commsplus Stadium.

Taunton Titans: Connor Baker, Chris Francis, Sonny Haines, Stuart Persey, Dan Ogden, Ben Oliphant-Thompson, Jamie Fleming, Sam Prior; Jacob Nash, Lewis Webb, Oscar Kolowski, Freddie Fraser, Nick Mason, Ollie Rice, Gary Kingdom.

Replacements: Andy Hamilton, Isaac Dalton, Andy England, Charlie Williams, Noah Sixton