Newport (Salop) rally is too little too late

SCUNTHORPE survived a second-half onslaught at Newport (Salop) to send the hosts to a first league defeat of the term.

Newport came into the game with a perfect league record and took the lead early on through winger Alex Gow.

But Scunthorpe came rallying back scoring tries through Ben Hyde and Collin Chapman, before James Dyson raced 50 metres to score a third try followed by a Tom Aldridge penalty to give his side a 22-5 halftime lead.

Staring at a first defeat, Newport replied with three tries of their own via Matthew Hubbard (two), while Chris Perry also crossed, which were all, vitally, unconverted.

Scunthorpe replied with another Aldridge penalty to seal a 28-20 win.

That win for Scunthorpe allowed Bromsgrove to draw level on points with the leaders following a 31-14 victory over Syston.

Syston did put up a valiant effort with tries from Sam Reid and Josh Brown, but were ultimately well-beaten.

Sheffield are also lurking among the leading pack of teams and gave their morale a boost with a routine 33-6 victory at

Dudley Kingswinford.

Lewis Taylor opened the scoring for the visitors after just four minutes, before running over again later in the tie. Further scores came from Ianto Jones and Marcus Payne, before a penalty try was also awarded.

Sandbach are also poised to make a title challenge within a pack of six sides separated by four points after 30-14 win over Nuneaton.

Bridgnorth have only suffered one defeat this season winning four games, but sit sixth.

The side have only picked up one try-bonus point from their opening five games and missed out again this time winning at Doncaster Phoenix 12-10. Cal Bradbury and Will Biddell both crossed the whitewash for the visitors who are proving tough to beat.

Broadstreet moved off the bottom with a 13-7 victory over Burton to move them above their opponents and into 11th.

Meanwhile, in an entertaining encounter, Paviors beat basement-side Oundle 25-23 with little to separate the sides.