Newton Abbot All Whites suffered last quarter blues again as hosts Old Redingensians piled on the points with four tries in the final 20 minutes, writes Gordon Hooper.

Probably to the hour mark and certainly until half-time, Newton's director of rugby Phil Burford thought his side had been more than competitive, but rued the missed opportunities, commenting: 'We showed an improvement on the previous week's performance (against Chippenham) when we held on to win 22-21.

'We looked good for the first hour and should have had more points on the board and been ahead at the break.

'The ball was knocked on under their posts, which cost us seven points, and our main kicker, Josh Smith, had an off day with his kicking.'

The visitors trailed 10-8 at the turn after Smith had put his side ahead with a penalty, which was followed up with a rare try for lock Colin Stewart, who finished off a series of pick-and-drives from short-range.

However, having led, Newton conceded a soft converted try to add to a conceded penalty to trail.

Old Reds – an experienced side at this level – edged further ahead after the break, but Burford always thought a bonus point in defeat was possible, adding: 'Overall we played well enough to earn something from the game, but the last 20 minutes cost us again. We have to learn to be competitive for the full 80 minutes.'

Newton began to suffer as the yellow cards were dished out in the second half, having two players in the bin at the same time.

'Overall, I thought referee Chris Newton had a good game, but felt we didn't have the rub of the green with the yellow cards,' said the All Whites' director of rugby.

When replacement prop Danny Porte and winger Alex Moore were both absent together, Old Reds took advantage to put the game well beyond the visitors.

Despite the margin of defeat, Burford was able to take some positives from the match.

'Youngster Matt Dowrick came in at loose head prop at very short notice and did very well,' he said.

'Matt Newman had an intelligent game behind his pack and did a lot of quality defensive work against a hard-running back row.'

Burford also had praise for winger Matt Dayment, who gave a brave performance against his opposite number, the highly-rated Mark Odejobi.

There was more compensation in defeat when the rest of the results came in, because this set-back didn't cost Newton their fourth place in the table as the clubs immediately below, who could have moved above the Rackerhayes-based side, were also unable to win.

The All Whites are now 14 points behind the breakaway group of Chinnor, Bournemouth and Old Reds, at the head of a group of six clubs separated by only seven points.

Tomorrow, Newton Abbot 1st XV have a more than welcome break before taking on basement club Bridgwater at home on December 3 and new leaders Chinnor away a week later to conclude the first half of their campaign.

In a bad day all round for the Newton Abbot club, the Seconds went down 29-20 to visitors Okehampton, while the Thirds, who had to promote several of their players up to the Seconds, were on the wrong end of a 19-nil score line at Homers Lane against Ivybridge 2nd XV.

Newton Seconds led via an early try for flanker Josh Vickridge, but conceded two converted tries before captain Mike Sexton pegged some points back with a penalty just before the break.

Okehampton went further ahead with a try that was cancelled out by one from lock Chris Grice.

The Moorland side scored again before a seven-pointer from full back Saxton closed the gap to 24-20. Okehampton sealed victory with a late try.

As for the Thirds, they were 12-nil down at the break against Ivybridge's second string, but defended bravely – without threatening themselves – only conceding a third try in the 70th minute.

Tomorrow there is action at Rackerhayes where Newton 2nd XV welcome Kingsteignton-based Devon One side New Cross, the action gets under way at 2.30pm.