Essex lost 24-21 away to Staffordshire at Lichfield RFC last weekend in an exciting match in which the lead changing hands five times. The hosts won it with a try by Henley’s Liam Wordley from a rolling maul in the first minute of added time converted by replacement centre Scott Rawlings (Manchester). There were tries for Essex, who led 14-12 at half-time, by No.8 Tom Alexander, loose-head prop Sean Mullins and centre Jamie Reid (all from Barking) and three conversions by Ben Montgomery (Romford and Gidea Park).

Top place in Pool 2 of the County Championship Plate will be decided at Horsham on Saturday. The hosts SUSSEX and visitors HAMPSHIRE each have one win over Buckinghamshire to their name, so whoever prevails will earn a home semi-final. The fourth team in the pool, Dorset & Wilts, have withdrawn from the competition.

Hampshire assistant coach Jason Ford said after the 54-0 win over Bucks at Basingstoke: "I’m proud of the players and beginning to think it is the best Hampshire squad I’ve seen in the last ten years, but we haven’t won anything yet and that opinion will only be confirmed when we do. We’ve still to beat Sussex and need to concentrate and not get over-confident to progress further." There were eight tries for Hampshire against Bucks, the last of them scored by Tommy Booth, the Sandown & Shanklin No.8 now at Bath University, and a former Wales U18 captain and England U19 tourist.

Sussex, captained by Bognor’s Welsh fly half Rob Parry, were left without an opponent after Dorset & Wilts pulled out of both the scheduled match at Lewes and this weekend’s fixture with Bucks.

KENT in the County Championship Plate Pool 3 have a tough task at Bedford Athletic on Saturday, needing to win away to East Midlands to leapfrog their hosts at the top of the table. Kent may have to do without props Tim Kavanagh (Loughborough University) and Jamie Forsyth (Canterbury) who picked up injuries in last weekend’s 45-14 defeat of Berkshire.

Kent had 11 new caps in the side and after taking time to settle they ran in three tries in a devastating eight minutes just before half-time through Westcombe Park flanker James Lindfield and debutants Prince Moyo (wing, Blackheath) and Brad Box (full back, Sheppey). Those in addition to Deal & Betteshanger centre Mike O’Donnell’s early try plus three conversions by his club-mate and fly half Tom Best added up to a 26-7 interval lead. Further tries came from left wing Tom Ash (Deal & Betteshanger), No 8 Toby Carroll (Tonbridge Juddians) and Best, with two more Best conversions.

MIDDLESEX were by no means disheartened by their 22-18 defeat at home to Gloucestershire in the Bill Beaumont Cup. “We took a hiding [39-7] away to Gloucestershire last season and this time we could have beaten them though I’m not saying we should have done,” said Bob Lawless, Middlesex team manager. “The England Counties selectors have been in touch regarding four of our players and in what is obviously a tight pool, with Somerset only narrowly losing away to Somerset, we are hoping for a win at home to Devon this week.”

Middlesex were boosted against Gloucestershire by the performances in the second row of Dan Collier (London Welsh) and man of the match Matt Corker, who was one of three academy players made available by London Wasps. “Our only Premiership team in the county is Wasps,” explained Lawless, “and last year they were battling for two titles to the end of the season and unable to release any academy boys. This year it is different and we are hoping to have one or two more made available this week. They have a quality which raises the performances of those around them.”

Wasps scrum half James Honeyben and wing Mark Odejobi – an England Under 20 Grand Slam winner this season – also impressed against Gloucestershire. And Lawless expects London Welsh hooker Adam Kwasnicki – with 22 National League One appearances this season – to return to Middlesex colours this week. Corker, Collier, Odejobi and Kwasnicki are the players under England Counties scrutiny ahead of the tour to USA and Canada in June.

EASTERN COUNTIES celebrated their County Championship Shield (South) victory over HERTFORDSHIRE in the first representative match to be staged at West Norfolk’s Gatehouse Lane ground, continuing the Counties’ policy of taking matches around their three member counties, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

An interception try for Hertfordshire by Welwyn centre Jon Child converted by Old Albanian fly half Richard Gregg reduced Eastern Counties’ lead to 27-23 after 57 minutes but two penalty goals from Hartpury College fly half Peter Clifford saw the hosts home for a winning introduction to the Shield after their promotion from last season’s Plate.

Eastern Counties now travel to Chinnor to take on Oxfordshire who were on the wrong end of a 66-8 defeat by Cornwall in Redruth last Saturday. 

Hertfordshire will hope to get the show back on the road when they host Cornwall at Hertford on Saturday, followed by the visit of Oxfordshire to Old Albanian on May 17.

County Championship 2007-08 fixtures/results:

April 26

County Championship Plate: Pool 1: Leicestershire 43 Staffordshire 16 (Syston), Essex 44 Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire 18 (Eton Manor). Pool 2: Buckinghamshire 24 Sussex 39 (High Wycombe), Dorset & Wilts 0 Hampshire 55 (Swanage & Wareham). Pool 3: Berkshire 0 East Midlands 66 (Reading).

May 3

Bill Beaumont Cup: North: Cheshire 13 Yorkshire 20 (Macclesfield), Lancashire 35 Warwickshire 25 (Preston Grasshoppers). South: Devon 19 Somerset 13 (Barnstaple), Middlesex 18 Gloucestershire 22 (Staines).

County Championship Shield: North: Cumbria 0 Northumberland 38 (Kendal), North Midlands 41 Durham 16 (Stourbridge). South: Cornwall 66 Oxfordshire 8 (Redruth), Eastern Counties 33 Hertfordshire 23 (West Norfolk).

County Championship Plate: Pool 1: Staffordshire 24 Essex 21 (Lichfield), Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire 21 Leicestershire 22 (Newark). Pool 2: Hampshire 54 Buckinghamshire 0 (Basingstoke), Sussex w/o Dorset & Wilts. Pool 3: Kent 45 Berkshire 14 (Westcombe Park).

May 10

Bill Beaumont Cup: North: Cheshire v Lancashire (New Brighton), Warwickshire v Yorkshire (Coventry). South: Gloucestershire v Somerset (Lydney), Middlesex v Devon (Staines).

County Championship Shield: North: North Midlands v Cumbria (Stourbridge), Northumberland v Durham (Alnwick). South: Hertfordshire v Cornwall (Hertford), Oxfordshire v Eastern Counties (Chinnor).

County Championship Plate: Pool 1: Staffordshire v Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire (Stafford), Leicestershire v Essex (Syston). Pool 2: Buckinghamshire v Dorset & Wilts (Buckingham), Sussex v Hampshire (Horsham). Pool 3: East Midlands v Kent (Bedford Athletic).

May 17

Bill Beaumont Cup: North: Warwickshire v Cheshire (Coventry), Yorkshire v Lancashire (Harrogate). South: Devon v Gloucestershire (Plymouth Albion), Somerset v Middlesex (Taunton).

County Championship Shield: North: Durham v Cumbria (Darlington), Northumberland v North Midlands (Tynedale). South: Cornwall v Eastern Counties (Camborne), Hertfordshire v Oxfordshire (Old Albanian).

County Championship Plate: Semi-finals.

May 24

County Championship Plate final (venue TBC).

June 1

Bill Beaumont Cup final and County Championship Shield final (Twickenham).

Ends