Sluggish Abbot have Browne to thank

South West Premier

NEWTON Abbot remain resurgent in their quest for promotion after seeing off Cleve 64-31 in their fourth bonus point victory of the season.

However, Abbot made hard work for themselves. Despite going 19-0 ahead early in the game, they saw Cleve turn the tide and come back to 21-19, only for the league leaders to rally in the second half.

Kyle Browne was in superior form for the leaders, running in six tries, while Matt Jess scored a double and Lloyd Radford the other.

Dings remains the only other side to have won their opening four matches after recording a 34-28 victory over Brixham.

Marcus Brooker and Marlon Dorsett both ran in two tries for Dings, while Jake Holcombe and Chris Wright Hyder scored the others.

Exmouth fell behind the leaders after suffering their first defeat of the season when Maidenhead beat them 45-33. However, Dave Bargent did run over a late bonus try for Exmouth.

Bournemouth continued their strong start to the season with their third victory thanks to a 31-20 score against Camborne.

A series of penalties following a Grant Hancox try led to Bournemouth taking a 12-3 lead into halftime before further scores from Alex Sutherland, Gleadowe and Alex Bennett.

Weston-super-Mare rued missed chances at the death as they were held to a 23-23 draw by Bracknell.

Tries came courtesy of Hayden Tuttiett and Chris Young for Weston, who were 13-0 ahead at half-time before the hosts scored 15 points in eight minutes.

However, Weston pushed for the victory in the dying moments and were left regretting missed opportunities.

Hornets took their first victory of the season with a 38-26 victory over Lydney, thanks to tries by Rob Dempsey, Charlie Carter, Adam Francis, Jack O’Maley and Ross Cheesborough.

Ivybridge also climbed up the table with their second victory of the season with a 22-13 victory at Newbury Blues.

Two chipped tries by No.9 Mitch Pinkus helped Ivybridge to victory, while Charlie Briant claimed their other try.