NEWTON Abbot RFC’s three-game unbeaten run in South West Two West ended with a 38-22 defeat in the Devon derby at Okehampton.

Eleven points from the previous 15 on offer had lifted Newton off the bottom of the table and fuelled hopes of a late dash to safety.

Newton’s team management will be hoping the defeat at Okehampton is a blip and nothing worse. Results elsewhere were largely favourable to the All Whites, who only need four points to get ahead of Teignmouth and out of the bottom two.

Survival is partly in Newton Abbot’s hands as their last five games include Teignmouth and North Petherton, who are not out of the wood yet.

The first half was a ding-dong affair with the scoring tit-for-tat until Okey went 21-12 ahead, right on the break.

Pat Nash scored Okey’s first try, McGrattan put Brandon Horn away for the second and Saul Holliday collected the third after good work by Leon Horn. Luke Simmons kicked the goals.

Jon Lacey and then Jed Griffin were the Newton Abbot try scorers.

Tom McGrattan, who had a spell with Newton during their National Three days around a decade ago, opened the second-half scoring with a try from a tapped penalty.

Newton Abbot pulled a try back through Jack Sealey while Okey were a man down with Nash in the sin-bin. Sealey certainly has a taste for scoring at the moment, having crossed the white line five times in January- three against Wadebridge and twice against Truro.

A second try from Holliday was converted by Simmons for a 33-17 lead. Brad Curtis had the final word with try number six.

Newton snatched a bonus point in the last throes of the game when Sealey was driven over from a line-out.