DURSLEY slipped to one place off the bottom of the table after losing to Bristol Saracens.

The visitors set out their stall early and within the first minute Dursley conceded a penalty on their own 22 which was comfortably slotted despite the strong wind. They added another ten minutes in to lead 6-0.

Dursley retaliated and, with their lineout working better than in recent games, they were able to return the pressure through good hands in the back line to find Ed Sheldon on the wing to gain 50 metres.

More indiscipline by the home side led to another penalty ten metres out which Saracens chose to scrum, and following intense pressure within the red zone eventually they secured an unconverted try followed by a converted try in the closing minutes of the first half, bringing the score to a disappointing 0-18.

Following a stern half time talk Dursley made a more determined start to the second half with strong tackling by Alex Budd and hard work by Simon Camm to secure a penalty for holding on, but the pressure was not rewarded. Another strong break by Sheldon was brought to an abrupt end with a yellow card for the Saracens flanker for a high tackle.

Ten minutes into the half Dursley put their first points on the board when Scott Udal drove over with the conversion being added from the boot of Matt Billett, narrowing the gap to 7-18.

However, they added a further unconverted try minutes later, extending the deficit to 7-23. Midway through the half, scrum half Jack Pearce made a nippy move from the back of a five-metre scrum to score, but Billett was just wide with the conversion 12-23. As the game drew to a close, Saracens made short work of the Dursley scrum to drive over and convert for the final points of the game.

Dursley face stern opposition at league leaders Drybrook on Saturday, 2.30pm.