Leeds Carnegie maintained their unbeaten start to the National League One campaign with a 38-0 thumping of London Welsh - their sixth consecutive victory.

The league leaders shut out their opponents for the second successive weekend and took control of the contest early on with Alberto Di Bernardo slotting a penalty after just three minutes. They extended their lead when fullback Leigh Hinton grabbed the opening try of the game on the quarter hour.

After missing a couple of drop goal attempts, Di Bernardo rediscovered his touch by adding the conversion to make it 10-0. Hendre Fourie grabbed his side's second try soon after to increase his season tally to seven and Di Bernardo once again added the conversion.

Leeds Carnegie's third try came soon after the interval with Scott Barrow touching down after some good work from Di Bernardo and the bonus point was in the bag when a penalty try was awarded after a sustained spell of Leeds pressure on the Exiles' line. Di Bernardo converted both tries to make it 31-0.

The last and best try of the game came in the final minute when Jon Goodridge got on the end of a sweeping move and Hinton added the final conversion to seal the emphatic win.

Exeter and Bedford kept in touch with the leaders with victories over Sedgley Park and Coventry respectively.

The west country side hammered Sedgley Park 71-5 - running in a total of 11 tries in the process. In a performance full of pace and power winger Matt Jess grabbed a hat-trick of tries while fullback Sean Marsden weighed in with a brace. Danny Gray converted eight of the tries for a personal haul of 16 points.

Bedford bounced back from their narrow defeat to Exeter last time out to score a 26-3 away victory at Coventry. A win is a win but Bedford will be bitterly disappointed not to have secured a bonus point against a side who played the second half with just 14 players after Coventry lock Sam Herrington was given his marching orders for some over-zealous rucking.

Two tries from Ian Davey and one for Billy Twelvetrees sent Bedford on their way to a convincing victory.

Nottingham remain level on points with Exeter and Bedford after an 18-9 victory over Doncaster. Fly-half Tim Taylor notched two tries for the hosts with fullback David Jackson adding another and also slotting a conversion.

At the other end of the table, Manchester remain rooted to the bottom without a win following 12-6 home defeat to Cornish Pirates who climb to mid-table on the back of the win. Fellow strugglers Otley sit just one point above them after their sixth successive defeat - a 31-16 home defeat to Plymouth Albion who secured a bonus point thanks to tries from Arran Cruickshanks, Keni Fisilau, Justin Mensah-Coker and Gareth Evans.

In the weekend's other games, Rotherham Titans proved too strong for Moseley - outscoring their rivals 7 tries to 3 for a 47-23 victory that lifts them to 11th in the table. And struggling Esher edged out Newbury 14-8 for a valuable away victory that sees them move away from the danger zone.