STARTING at the top while they remain in the town, London Irish extended their Greene King IPA Championship advantage to nine points following a seven-try, 47-12 home win against Richmond on Saturday.

The forwards were once again at their ruthless best with both the starting hooker, Dave Porecki, and his replacement, Saia Fangia'a grabbing two tries apiece.

Scrum-half Ben Meehan matched that tally and skipper Josh McNally also showed his power to dot down, giving them a good win ahead of tomorrow's trip to Nottingham.

Just two divisions below in National Two South, Rams look ever more like champions-elect following another dominant home win, this time 36-21 against Old Albanians – the only team to have beaten Seb Reynolds men in 18 matches.

It's now 14 wins on the spin for the Old Bath Road side, who have a 15-point lead from Taunton Titans ahead of a potential banana skin at Bury-St-Edmunds – who sit sixth and themselves haven't lost in four – on Saturday.

Sadly, it was a day to forget for my boys Reading.

For the first time ever, Reading Abbey beat us 25-14 at Holme Park, and in doing so completed a Southern Counties North derby double.

I just can't tell you just how much of a disappointing result it was for us, particularly as we only trailed by a point at the break.

However, in fairness to the visitors, they came on strong in the second half and three tries secured their bonus-point before Nick Burch grabbed a late consolation for us.

Sadly, it was not a good performance from us, particularly in the second half, when we were not in it at all and the large, mainly partisan, crowd were not amused. Lets hope the lads can get it together for the rest of the season and start winning.

The talent is there, but they need to start taking on some responsibility and owning the game. I am sure, however, coach Ben Wills will be putting the lads through it at training this week ahead of our trip to second-bottom Slough on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Abbey face a daunting trip to leaders Windsor, though both their defeats have come at home.

Lastly, a hearty congratulations to Berkshire Shire Hall, who edged out third-placed Faringdon 15-13 in the BB&O Championship.