NEWENT Phoenix got off to the perfect start in their friendly at Cirencester Seconds on Saturday.

Henry Howe’s kick-off was knocked-on in the home 22 and Cirencester’s pack penalised in the ensuing scrum where Dylan Laney seized the opportunity for a quick tap-and-go.

A long pass found fly-half Lucas Goode whose overhead found Howe with enough space to touch down. The conversion made it 0-7.

Newent continued to press and quick ball from the breakdown saw Goode power over to the left of the posts. Howe converted.

From a lineout on the left, the ball was tapped down to Leney who shrugged off a couple of tackles and touched down just to the left of the posts. Howe converted.

Then, from inside their own half, Newent shifted the ball wide where Zack Goforth, cut a good line to before feeding Howe. The full-back scored but his conversion went wide.

Following more good work by the pack, Joe Warner sold a dummy and was over. Howe converted for a 0-33 half-time lead.

Newent brought on all their subs for the second half and added to their tally when Joe Heron won a kick-chase. There was no conversion.

Leney the darted over wide on the right after picking up from the base of the scrum. The conversion failed.

With defenders flying out of the line, Warner threw a perfectly weighted overhead pass to Goforth and the centre forced his way over near the touchline. The conversion attempt by Howe hit the post.

There was time for one more try as the pack set up a good drive toward the line and it was the evergreen Tommy Devries who forced his way over for the touchdown, converted by Howe.

Phoenix gave another impressive performance to win 0-55.