Clevedon RFC were beaten 42-14 by one of the Counties 1 Tribute Western North promotion favourites Longlevens in their first home game of the season last Saturday. 

The Seasiders had the upper hand in the opening exchanges at the Vale.

However, it was the Griffins who took the lead after 12 minutes.

The Blue and Golds gave away a number of penalties, one which saw the visitors kick into the corner and after being held just short Steve Phillips powered over to give the Griffins the lead against the run of play, which was converted by James Butler.

Things went from bad to worse as the now confident visitors had momentum and made the most of it, playing multiple phases, and saw Jake Fox go over in the corner to extend their lead seven minutes later.

Despite the early setback Clevedon were not ready to lie down. Rory McGuigan put Longlevens on the back foot with a clever chip into the corner saw Alfie Harrison score his third try in two games.

Clevedon then shot themselves in the foot as an inaccurate exit play allowed the visiting Griffins a scrum on the 22, and after several missed tackles it was Ben Collier who went over to it make 21-7 after 30 minutes.

Frustrations got the better of Joe Williams as the home scrum-half saw yellow after taking matters into his own hands after repeated cynical offences by the visitors. Immediately back row Luke Stratford followed him to the bin following a shoulder to the head.

This spurred the Seasiders on and from the resulting penalty they set up the catch and drive, this was stopped illegally and the referee had no choice but to award the penalty try and send Cam Jones to the bin to make it 21-14 at half-time in favour of Longlevens.

Despite holding a man advantage, an early missed tackle lead to a break on the flank and Phillips powered over to score for his second capitalised to make it 28-14.

Clevedon fought valiantly in search of a way back into the game, even after Ethan Thomas left the field with a hamstring injury.

Griffins capitalised and scored two late tries in the final 15 minutes. The first of these came from Dave Edwards, who finished off a driving line-out, and the second one saw Philips complete his hat-trick with another try from a Longlevens line-out to seal the bonus point win.

Clevedon return to action this Saturday at Midsomer Norton.