Weston lost their first match of the season, away at Newton Abbot.

NEWTON ABBOT 28 pts

WESTON 22 pts

WESTON were beaten for the first time this season by a more than useful Newton Abbot side at Rackerhayes.

They were 15 points adrift by the 22nd minute and although they fought back to 15-10 they could find no consistency. However, their strong finish earned them a losing bonus point.

The hosts went ahead with Rob Avery-Wright’s penalty and the fly-half was soon converting a try by full-back Josh Smith.

Weston’s line-out was suffering as well as their set scrums and skipper Ben Cole touched down a pushover try.

The introduction of Steve Donegan to the front row improved matters at the set pieces and when George Sparks took a tap penalty, prop Phil Hobbs was the beneficiary with a try near the posts. James Mackay converted, then added a penalty for that 15-10 scoreline.

Avery-Wright’s second penalty just before the break increased the All Whites’ lead, but four minutes into the second half, Weston were back in the match.

The hosts were pressing hard on the Seasiders’ line but when they lost possession, wing James Arnold fly-hacked for 90 metres to easily outflank the defence to score his seventh try of the season.

But advantage was not taken as their line-out failed to function and between the 70th and 74th minutes, Newton Abbot scored tries by scrum-half Matt Newman and flanker Brett Stroud to put themselves out of reach.

But full-back Sam Smee replied with a good team try at the end, and Mackay’s conversion earned the bonus point.

Weston: S Smee, J Arnold, H Jones, S Edwards, M Watkins, J Mackay, S Disney (R Bennett h/t), D Price (S Donegan 23), D Burge, P Hobbs, S Eaton (P Morrissey 56), H Somers, P Morrissey (G Wright 23), G Simpson (c), G Sparks.

This was not a good performance by Weston and their line-out will need major attention before they receive Brixham at the Recreation Ground on Saturday (3pm).