Blues maintain their fight for survival
South West Premier
NEWBURY Blues gave their bid to beat relegation a huge boost after they held on for a 25-24 victory against Exmouth.
Blues sit in the final relegation place with two games remaining, but they closed the gap to five points on their opponents.
Josh Love ran over a brace of tries, while Alex Miller and Joe Piggot were also on the scoresheet as they claimed a vital win.
At the other end of the table, second-placed
Bournemouth ran out 5147 winners over third-place
Newton Abbot in an absolute thriller to cement their position.
Despite Abbot running over seven tries, it was their lack of conversions which proved the difference.
A brace of tries for Sam Hardcastle led the way for Bournemouth with further scores by Dan Stewart, Ali Bennett, Patrick Fraser and Jack Hennings securing the victory.
It was the kicking of Grant Hancox which again decided the outcome, as he slotted five conversions and two penalties. Champions Dings Crusaders returned to winning ways by running over eight tries during a 5517 victory over Lydney.
Matt Smith ran over a brace, while further scores came from Harry Tovey, Michele Canulli, Stean Williams, Ben Bolster, Josh Lloyd and Jake Holocombe and there was a penalty try.
Two tries in the final ten minutes helped Bracknell come back from 15 points behind to clinch a 29-25 win over Brixham.
Despite tries by Ken Downing and Ally Walton, the hosts found themselves behind before Simon Haddad and Chris Wilson ran over the whitewash late on. Camborne ran over nine tries to take a convincing 49-7 victory over Hornets. Ben Taylor-Guy ran in a hat-trick, while
Sam Newman, Keiran Westlake, Damien Cook, James Goldsworthy, Rodgery Mcatee and David Mankee also scored. Weston-super-Mare were also in form, clinching a 45-17 win over Maidenhead.
Adam Godfrey, Ollie Streeter, Ross Bennet and Huw Morgan were among the try scorers, while James McKay was on form with his kicking.
In the day’s final match, Ivybridge ran out narrow 20-18 winners over Cleve.