South West One

Weston-super-Mare 12 Mounts Bay 21

The brace of first-half tries which Weston donated to their guests eventually cost them dear in this closely-fought clash at the Recreation Ground.

In the eighth minute, the ball was knocked back over their own goal line to give Lee Jarvis the softest of touch-downs and 20 minutes later, Mark Armstrong's cross-field kick failed to reach Paul Sprague, the intended target, and Tom Edyvean had the simple task of running unopposed to the posts.

In between, Jarvis and Steve Larkins had each kicked a penalty, and Larkins' conversion left the Seasiders 18 points adrift.

A landslide was now looking likely, but Weston came to life just before the break with a try for George Sparks following a line-out drive.

For the first 10 minutes of the second half, Weston continued with their handling errors, but despite losing the services of Djordje Milenkovic and Michael Denbee through injuries, they were now beginning to get themselves back into the match.

Notable thrusts by Chris Rowland, Kevin Hobbs and Bryce Noble, and an outstanding all-round performance by skipper David Burge, kept the Seasiders in touch.

And when Larkins took the score to 21-5 with his second penalty, there was still hope, especially when Joe Ewens' strong break produced produced a try for Armstrong which he converted.

But the hosts went off the boil tactically during the final 10 minutes and there was to be no surprise victory over the league leaders who would have been grateful for their first-half gifts.

Weston-super-Mare: G Vucicevic; M McQuaid, T J Madamombe, J Ewens, P Sprague; M Armstrong, L Hember (N Coleman 65); D Milenkovic (H Smith 39), D Burge, C Rowland, B Noble, A Russell, K Hobbs, M Denbee (G Simpson 50), G Sparks.

Weston-super-Mare scorers - tries: George Sparks, Mark Armstrong; con: Mark Armstrong

Mounts Bay scorers - tries: Lee Jarvis, Tom Edyvean; cons: Steve Larkins; pens: Steve Larkins (2), Lee Jarvis