Westcliff suffered a 41-17 defeat at high-flying Tonbridge Juddian.

They were hit by late injury blows when both skipper Simon Jones and back row man Bryn Hudson pulled out. But they still came close to securing a losing bonus point.

Early pressure saw the Kent side score three tries but Westcliff were the stronger side for the next 45 minutes.

The front row of Shaun Roberts, Craig Strachan and Ewan Binneman held firm and in the absence of Simon Jones, Jaba Kikvidze jumped superbly at the front of the line-out.

Westcliff played to their strengths and elected to run the ball at every opportunity.

This resulted in an opportunist try for fly-half Ben McKeith which followed a well placed grubber kick.

He converted the try with a fine kick from far out but the home side hit back with a fourth try before a fine move by Rob Smith – in his first appearance in a first team shirt after a long injury lay-off – ended in him touching down for a 20-12 scoreline.

Another fine move by Westcliff then saw Smith touch down again but the conversion just missed.

Tonbridge were stung by this and hit back with two converted tries. Westcliff were only a point away from claiming a bonus point but a try would not come.

Tonbridge, by their own admission were flattered by the result, but Westcliff are now just five points above the relegation zone and have only four games left to secure their National League status for another season.

Included in the run-in is a crunch clash against relegation rivals Bracknell at the end of the month.