By Chris Bailey

Backs coach Craig Chalmers is convinced Esher are back on track for National Division One promotion after a bonus-point 47-25 win against Hull Ionians.

Narrow defeats to Doncaster Knights and Coventry in the past two weeks, meant Esher travelled to the struggling Is knowing they needed a convincing win.

A first-half blitz – featuring an Ashley Smith double and tries from Steven Wood, Spencer Sutherland and Luke Daniels – set them on their way, before Andy Wright and Daniels again wrapped things up in the second half.

The win helped Esher claw back points on league leaders Doncaster Knights to blow the title race wide open and Chalmers is eyeing a merry run-up to Christmas by closing the gap even further.

“With Doncaster getting beaten it helps get us back into contention,” he said. “It was a good weekend and now we’ve got a couple of big games before Christmas to take us right back into the mix, putting us into a good position after the first round of fixtures.

“We still have to improve though and I think it’s about finding a bit more consistency.

“We do things really well at times, but we need to do it for long parts and keep our concentration to stop conceding as many tries.

“There’s a lot to work on, but overall the season has been good so far.”

Esher host Cinderford today, knowing the struggling visitors have won two of their past three games.

SSE sponsor the National and Divisional Leagues and has £10,000 worth of mobile floodlights for your club to win. To enter go to SSERugby.com.