Big win for Blues in fight against drop
South West Premier
NEWBURY Blues came from behind to clinch an emphatic 51-22 victory over
Maidenhead in their bid to avoid relegation from the South West Premier.
However, it was hosts who got off to the perfect start with Mark Darlington taking a pick and go try before Edward Keohane made it 12-0 after finding a gap in the defence from a five-metre scrum.
Newbury responded emphatically with Josh Love running over a brace of tries while Ollie Spanwick, Adam Neal, Dan Thorne, Alex Miller and Jamie Futcher also scored.
Dings remain runaway leaders and clinched a 34-26 victory over relegation threatened Weston-superMare in their new ground. A bumper crowd turned out at Shaftesbury Park and watched the leaders run over five tries on their way to victory.
Weston put up a spirited fight and were awarded a penalty try before Robbie Mackay, Huw Morgan and David Bird went over to earn them would could be vital bonus point.
Lydney also gave their faint safety hopes a boost by clinching a bonus point 47-24 victory over promotion chasing Bournemouth.
Dave Arnott scored a brace of tries for the hosts while Josh Hannam, Steve Parry, Joe McLean, Sam Arnott and Dave Emery all scored tries to provide a huge upset. Basement side
Hornets followed suit by taking their fifth win of the season with a 44-40 victory over Brixham.
Steve Pape ran over a brace of tries while Matt Denton, Courtney Harris and Danny Bailey also scored. That allowed Newton
Abbot to narrow the gap to one point over second place Bournemouth following a 17-10 win in the Devon derby against Ivybridge.
However, it was the hosts who took an early lead through a converted try before Rob Avery Wright kicked a penalty before converting Kyle Browne’s try to give his side a 10-7 lead.
Avery Wright then scored his own try before converting it to give his side victory. In the day’s other games Exmouth drew 36-36 with
Bracknell after Nicky Halse’s try five minutes from time evened the score while Camborne emerged narrow 32-30 victors over Cleve.