OXFORD RL ended their six-match losing streak with a 36-16 victory away to bottom-of-the-table South Wales Scorpions in Kingstone Press Championship One.

The match at Maesteg RFC finished two minutes early due to an injury to Scorpions’ Shaun Owens, who went down awkwardly after a legitimate tackle, A neck injury was suspected, but it was later discovered he had suffered a broken rib and ligament damage.

Scorpions went ahead with a Paul Emanuelli penalty, but he missed a second from 40 metres two minutes later.

Oxford scored the first try, Andrew Hoggins going over following a scrum. Jimmy Rowland converted, before adding a try of his own, but this time he could not convert.

A good passing move saw Marcus Brooker go over for Oxford’s third, but Scorpions replied on 24 minutes with Owens touching down from dummy half. Emanuelli converted.

Oxford hit back four minutes later as Jack Briggs scored in the corner, Scorpions replying before the interval with an unconverted Barrie Phillips try.

The home side had a chance to level the scores before the half-time hooter, but wasted it when the ball was thrown into touch.

South Wales were first on the scoreboard in the second half, Chris Leyshon making a 50 metre dash and leaving the Oxford defence for dead.

Emanuelli missed the kick, but the Welsh side were only 18-16 down.

However, that was the closest they got as Oxford took control.

As they upped the tempo, Rory Sharratt was held up over the line, while a second attempt was ruled out for obstruction.

Glenn Osborn’s short-range try just after the hour mark extended Oxford’s lead to 22-16 and then former Scorpion Yannic Parker went over after a 30-metre run.

Tommy Connick converted to increase the advantage to 12 points and then added a penalty to make the score 30-16.

Alex Thompson rubbed salt into the Scorpions’ wounds in the last five minutes with a try after an excellent team move. Connick converted.

* A HAT-TRICK of tries from Wes Newton, all converted by Andy Winfield, was not enough as Oxford Cavaliers went down 46-18 in Conference League South at Bristol Sonics, who recorded their first win of the season.

Newton is now the leading try-scorer in Conference South with 14.

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