Report by the Southwest's premier rugby correspondent Conrad Sutcliffe

Newton 22-13 Torquay Ath

Newton Abbot turned the formbook on its head by sending previously unbeaten Torquay to their first league defeat of the season.

The odds appeared to be stacked against Newton Abbot going into the match as they had lost twice and were in the grip of a serious injury crisis.With a couple of key men back in the side - centre Kevin Francis and hooker Simon Mabin -Newton looked a much tougher proposition.

Torquay were never ahead in the match - the best they could manage after going behind to an interception try by Richard Hewitt was a four-minute period of parity in the second half - and were well beaten come the end.

How badly they were affected by losing scrum-half Scott Rylance halfway through with a rib injury is difficult to quantify, but it was asking a lot of Ollie Pitts to play out of position for quite so long.

Playing a forward down when ex-Newton flanker Tom Havill went in the sin-bin for 10 minutes was something else that mitigated against Torquay as well.

The Tics felt they didn't get too many of the 50-50 decisions go their way, although their only try had an element of good fortune about it that surely cancelled other issues out.

Jon Arnold's bullock-like run through the centre channel opened up Newton's defence in good field position for the Tics. However, Arnold spilled the ball when tackled, the whistle didn't go and second-phase ball went out to right-wing Matt Alllanson, who shot over in the corner.

Allanson's try was converted by Matt Jackson and left it all square at 13-all with 20 minutes to play.

Earlier, Jackson had kicked two penalties while, at the other end, Wiaan Venter had done the same and added the extras to Hewitt's try.

Venter added three more penalties, on 64, 73 and 83 minutes, to move Newton Abbot well clear.

Torquay coach Drew Powell felt things started to go wrong around the time Hewitt scored his interception try, which came moments after the Tics had seen a try ruled out for an apparent forward pass.

It's a point of view, but probably one that doesn't give Newton Abbot the credit they deserve for a win few people would have expected them to obtain.

Ask around South West Two and the pack of forwards most teams fear is Torquay's - especially their back five.

Newton Abbot seldom allowed Torquay to impose themselves up front in quite the way they are used to.

The All Whites have played Torquay enough times in the past couple of seasons to know where the likely threats come from and to have a working knowledge of their basic game plan.

Newton coach Burford had ploys in place to deal with Torquay's Plan A - kick deep and apply pressure through the forwards - and felt the Tics didn't have a Plan B to fall back on.