Newport 27 Peterborough 36

The Forton Road men suffered a 36-27 home defeat at the hands of Peterborough in a ding-dong encounter at Forton Road.

But director of rugby Ray Price insisted it was not all doom and gloom after their seventh defeat in nine games.

"There were lots of positives to come out of the game and some of our attacking play was excellent," he said.

"We gave away too much at the other end, but it was a big step forward in terms of performance against a good Peterborough team."

An early penalty from Tomasi Tanumi gave Newport a 3-0 lead, but they were left playing catch-up after leaking a succession of tries.

Two scores from Rob Clymer and one each from Michael Woodhouse and Dan Duggan gave Newport hope and a bonus point - Tanumi adding one conversion and a further penalty - but they couldn't get their noses in front.

Price also had words of encouragement for debutants Rob Larcombe and Sam Egerton who had been recruited from Harper Adams and Adams Grammar School respectively.

"Sam started the game at scrum-half and moved to centre and Rob came on as a replacement and they both adjusted to this level superbly," added Price.

Luctonians' impressive run of four consecutive wins came to an end when they were beaten 27-10 by top of the table Ampthill at Mortimer Park.

Ampthill scored two late tries to end the Luctonians chance of a fightback.

"We were beaten by a more professional side although the scoreline was a bit flattering to Ampthill as we had an equal amount of possession" said spokesman Robin East

"But we lacked the killer finish and were punished for it - they are by far the best side we have played this season."

Ollie WIlliams scored Luctonians' only try of the game, which was converted by Will Hodnet, with Jamie Simpson adding a penalty.

Hereford bounced back from their defeat against Hinckley with a nail-biting 18-17 victory over Kenilworth.