National 2 South
Taunton Titans 24, Bury St Edmunds 10

TAUNTON Titans overcame the conditions and Bury St Edmunds to claim a scrappy victory at the Commsplus Stadium on Saturday.

Watched by more than 100 former players, the Titans scored two second-half tries to see off their dogged opponents.

The opening 10 minutes were stop-start and uneventful, but the hosts then took their chance when it came, as space opened up in front of winger Jack Claydon and he steamed in to score in the left-hand corner, with Gary Kingdom converting well from the angle.

But from that point they struggled to hold on to the ball, with the rain teeming down and every player being coated in mud.

Visitors Bury seemed to cope better with the conditions and showed more attacking intent, but solid defence from the home side kept them out.

That was until five minutes before half time, when Will Scholes found room to plough through, and Fraser Honey's conversion made it 7-7 at half time.

Head coach Tony Yapp was clearly unimpressed by what he'd seen in the first half, as the Titans came out firing after the interval, holding onto the ball better and scoring within a couple of minutes, as Dan Frost burst down the right and had the sense to pass inside for Jamie Fleming to score.

Kingdom converted and then kicked a penalty, but although the away side were struggling to make progress they did keep plugging away, and Honey's penalty pulled it back to 17-10.

But the hosts finished stronger, and after they were initially held up, they worked it through the phases until replacement Chris Francis charged over, and again Kingdom added the extras.

With one final Bury St Edmunds attack being foiled, the Titans sealed a good victory given the conditions and their own sloppiness, while also completing a double over their opponents this season.

Taunton remain third in the National 2 South table, level on 76 points with Redingensians, and this coming Saturday they travel to ninth-placed Canterbury (ko 3pm).

Taunton Titans: Connor Baker, Dan Frost, Isaac Dalton, Andy England, Blake Lugg, Ratu Vakalutukali, Jamie Fleming, Ben Oliphant-Thompson; Connor Banks, Lewis Webb, Jack Claydon, Freddie Fraser, Nick Mason, Ollie Rice, Gary Kingdom. Replacements: Chris Francis, Aaron Wilman, Stu Persey, Sam Prior, Ollie Carter.