Will Croker made a case for the defence following Bournemouth’s 33-18 South West Premier bonus-point win at seventh team Exeter University.
With second placed Barnstaple losing 24-12 at The Lions’ opponents this week - fifth side Exmouth - it stretched their advantage at the top to 20 points.
After conceding on average just 14 points a game this season, Croker said he was delighted their hard work in training had paid off.
Croker said: “I thought our defence was excellent for us today and in the first half we made too many uncharacteristic mistakes like missing touch and just turning over ball - which we would not normally do - but I thought in the second half we came out and executed really really well.
“They are a young team obviously being a university team, and they have a real go but I thought we got the measure of their attack and we knew they were going to go out of the back quite a lot and we worked during the week on how to defend against it, and I thought for large periods of the game our defence was absolutely fantastic.
“So I was pleased and it is a strange place to come because they don’t have a proper clubhouse and they don’t have many people come out to watch them play.
“It feels a bit like a training games at times but it was a good performance.”
The Lions’ 20th win in their opening 21 games of the season has put them in a strong position now to gain promotion.
With just five games left in the campaign now including three at home and two on the road, Croker said he would still like to see his side improve on a few things.
He added: “I thought we played some good stuff and we went in at half-time and it felt like every time we got the ball, we looked threatening.
“We did a few brain dead things like when the wind was howling across the pitch on the opposite side, we then threw the ball to the back of the lineout.
“That then put so much pressure on the hooker, so we flattered to deceive a little bit.
“But the scrummage was good, their scrummage was good also, and I think there was parity there and I think we won our own ball well so for me it was more about winning the collision and getting across the gain line.
“In our tackles - by making two-up tackles that meant their backs were always getting the ball on the back foot.”