SOUTHEND Saxons ended their National Two South season with a 45-26 defeat at Chinnor on Saturday.

Southend’s relegation had been confirmed before the weekend.

But they began brightly in Oxfordshire as they raced into a 19-0 lead inside the opening half an hour.

Full-back Iain Meads touched down twice in the space of three minutes to take his try-scoring tally into double figures, seeing him end finish the season as Southend’s top try scorer.

Centre Sonny Gay then also scored a try and, with two conversions from Burr, the visitors led 19-0.

However James Tyas and Oscar Heath both bagged tries for Chinnor before the break to cut Southend’s lead to just five points.

And Chinnor dominated the game in the second half, touching down a further five times.

Saxons replied four minutes before the end with Reuben Haile coming off the bench to score against his former side.

Burr again added the extras but by then the damage had already been done as second-from-bottom Southend sunk to a sixth successive defeat.

Chris Green’s side will now be bidding to bounce back when they line up in National Three London & SE next term.

Southend: Meads, Ashton, Gay, Vaughan, Cleare, Burr, Daly, Strachan, Bloomberg, Bevans-Royston, Barker, Chesney, Bailey, Morrison, Smith.

Replacements: Day-White, Kirkbride, Twight, Haile & Legge.