Bournemouth captain - number eight Joe Rees - admitted it was worth the ‘worst cramp I have ever had in my life’ to get the 27-14 South West Premier bonus-point win at Drybrook on Saturday.

The Lions left it late to secure their seventh four-try scoring bonus point in their opening eight games of the new season and maintain their four-point lead over Ivybridge at the summit.

But after being missing since the first fixture of the new campaign at Old Patesians, the big ball carrier said it was worth the wait.

He said: “It felt brilliant to win at Drybrook on Saturday because they were a tough bunch of lads to play - they are really young and they just kept coming at us.

“We did not particularly have the best of games the boys have had all season, but we stuck at it and we got the bonus point towards the end of the game there.”

Rees was indeed right - after his side left it until the tenth minute of second-half added-on time before they registered their seventh four-try scoring bonus point in their opening eight games of the season.

But Rees said he would go through all of the pain he was feeling at the end of proceedings if it meant continuing their unbeaten start to the campaign.

He added: “My body was feeling really sore after the game - it was probably the worst cramp I’ve ever experienced on a rugby field - and at one point i just could not move.

“But the boys just stuck around me and kept doing the donkey work and we had a bit of a ride of it in the last ten minutes and I’m sure the body will be in bits tomorrow.

“My original injury was a really stupid injury really - it was actually in a surf lesson when I was on a stag do down in Newquay and I went to stand up on top of the surfboard and it just stubbed my toe and I just ripped the whole end of the toe off so I ended up having to spend a good few hours in A and E getting it reattached so it was a really frustrating injury.

“My toe is feeling good now - it has got no nail on it now - so I am just hoping that no-one treads on it but it is not too bad at the minute but we will have a good look at it when we get the boots off.”