Late penalty dents promotion ambitions

South West Premier

MAIDENHEADsaw their South West Premier promotion hopes handed a damaging blow as a late Ivybridge penalty snatched a 25-25 draw.

Title-chasing Maidenhead went ahead within the opening two minutes with a try before an Ivybridge penalty followed and an Harvey Dunn try put the hosts into a 10-7 lead.

Maidenhead regained a 17-10 lead going into halftime as they looked to control the tie.

However, Ivybridge’s Tom Scholes went over to pull the deficit back to two points, but Maidenhead again responded with a try and Will Runciman looked to have kicked them to a 25-22 victory.

However, a late Ivybridge penalty earned them a draw.

Leaders Barnstaple had no such trouble as they stretched their lead at the top to four points with a 48-19 win at Camborne.

Winston James scored a hat-trick for the leaders as they ran riot in Cornwall with Will Topps crossing for two in addition to further tries from Matthew Gohl, Ryan Lee and Haydn Lidstone.

Top-four hopefuls Exeter University and Okehampton went headto- head with the visitors running out 28-16 winners over the Students.

Exeter took an early lead with two penalties before at the other end a catch and drive resulted in Tom White crossing the whitewash for the visitors.

A nice team try resulted in Okehampton stretching their lead to eight points with Ryan Lee crossing the whitewash.

Liam Sampson crossed the line for a third Okehampton try to give his side a 21-9 lead at the break.

Gareth Espin secured the bonus point before a University drive pulled some points back.

Basement side Bracknell fell to a ninth defeat of the season despite picking up a losing bonus point at Brixham, eventually losing 11-10.

Despite finding themselves 11-3 behind at the break Bracknell gave their all in the second half eventually resulting in Jamie Johnson crossing the whitewash two minutes from time.

However, Brixham held on as they continued their push up the league table.

Finally, Newbury Blues did their survival chances no harm with a hard-fought 20-17 triumph over fellow strugglers Exmouth.