Barnstaple take away points as Brixham miss their kicker Mitch

SOUTH WEST PREMIER

Brixham coach Martin Worthington had few complaints about the 28-19 defeat by visiting Barnstaple that dropped the Fishermen into the bottom half of the South West Premier table.

Barnstaple went 21-7 up early in the second half and from then on Brixham were always chasing the game.

A late try narrowed the gap to nine points, but that was not enough to earn Brixham a los- ing bonus point. Brixham started the game without a recognised stand-off due the absence of Mitch Pinkus with a broken foot. Accumulated injuries during the game did not help.

Worthington said there may have been some mitigating factors, but added: “The best team won.

“Barnstaple adapted to the conditions better than we did and played a smarter game, which showed in the result.

“We missed Mitch’s kicking game to get us out or difficult situation in bad weather.

“The lads tried their hardest, but we just did not execute our game plan well enough.”

Going down to 14 then 13 men after Adam Thomas then Joe Lovell were sin-binned did not help, although Barnstaple did not capitalise as much as they could have done.

“In the six minutes we were two men short Barnstaple only scored one try.”

Prop Russ Morris (calf) and flanker Kyle Cane (shoulder) went off with injuries and look doubtful for the trip to leaders Bournemouth this Saturday,

Pinkus has a cracked metatarsal and if he is still unfit JP Simonetti will probably continue at 10. Connor Bedwell converted tries by Jamie Hext and Joe Lovell in a running total of 28-14 to Barnstaple.

Ryan Ashworth set up Bedwell for Brixham’s final try with a chip into the corner.