Super Salop surge takes them to top

NEWPORT (Salop) took top spot of Midlands Premier after an impressive second half saw them score 43 points in a 48-7 win at Scunthorpe.

The Shropshire side came into the day in second but never got started in Scunthorpe leading just 5-0 at the break.

But an emphatic second half resulted in a clear win with Henry Vaka and Jake Leonard both running over a brace of tries.

George Catledine, Matt Hubbart, Sam Brown and Ricky Bailey also crossed, with Leonard kicking four conversions.

Coming into the day, Bridgnorth were top but were pushed down into second after losing 35-33 in a high-scoring encounter.

Newport now lead their Shropshire rivals by two points with two games in hand.

Sheffield are also in title race contention and maintained their pressure on the top two with a 29-3 win over Dudley Kingswinford.

A close first half saw little to separate the sides with Ieuan Cooke scoring the only try for Sheffield.

After the break the hosts took control with Stephen Depledge, Ianto Jones and William Hodgson all crossing, with the latter scoring three conversions and a penalty during the game. Dudley’s points came courtesy of a Rhys Harper penalty.

Syston sit just eight points behind leaders Newport after recording a 45-5 win over Bromsgrove.

Rob Clay and Sam Harrison scored a brace of tries each while Reece Jones, Ross Burgoine and Jay Rudkin all crossed the whitewash with Jones kicking five conversions.

Paviors pulled away from the bottom positions after recording a 20-15 victory over basement side Oundle. Despite Will Cardall and Harry Winch both scoring tries for bottom side Oundle they suffered a 14th defeat of the season.

First-half tries from Ryan Barrett, Nick Allsop and Ali Burton set the base for a 35-14 victory for Sandbach over Nuneaton.

Josh Brookes and Harry Hughes also crossed the whitewash in the second half to complete the win.

And Burton recorded a 30-22 win over Broadstreet.