CALDY extended their lead at the top of National 1 with a seven try victory over Plymouth Albion.

The visitors, struggling at the bottom of the table, started the game brightly and the Caldy defence held them out for the opening minutes before a breakaway try was scored by fly half Ben Jones who expertly converted the extras.

A second try came through Ollie Hearn just after the midway point of the first half. Caldy got into their stride and played the free flowing rugby that has seen the Ravers only defeated once in their last twenty games.

The third try was a magical run finished off by Callum Ridgeway to the delight of the home crowd.

On the half hour, Caldy turned the ball over and Michael Barlow shinned down the line resulting in a great phase of play, before offloading to Elliot Gourley, who scored in the gaping hole left by the Plymouth defence, to gain the try bonus point.

The fifth try of the half came through Nick Royle who scored his 301st National League try majestically grounding in the corner.

Caldy came out looking to extend their advantage after the break and were rewarded with Hearn’s second try of the day two minutes after the restart as it looked like the afternoon could turn into a cricket score.

Plymouth got themselves on the scoreboard capitalising on a defensive mistake from Caldy that saw the visitors work through the phases to score brilliantly in the corner.

Caldy scored their seventh try through Adam Aigbokhe with a quarter of the game still to play.

The Ravers then took their eye off the ball allowing the visitors to run in three more tries to gain themselves a bonus point just before the final whistle to the delight of those who had travelled from Devon.

Caldy have a two-point lead over second placed Rosslyn Park and are three ahead of Sale FC with six games remaining.

Match report by John Mallon.