BOURNEMOUTH boss Will Croker admitted his side’s commanding triumph over Cleve had been “marred” by a “fracas” between the sides at Chapel Gate.

Lions were in cruise control when tensions reached boiling point during the South West Premier encounter, resulting in Cleve flanker Jake Leonard receiving a red card.

Described as “a 30-man second-half brawl” on the Bournemouth website, home scrum-half Sam Hardcastle was also sin-binned following the incident.

Lions touched down seven times in total to record a 54-14 victory - their seventh win of the campaign.

But head coach Croker said the heated exchange had “ruined” the closing stages.

Giving his take on the incident, he told the Daily Echo: “There was always a little bit of tension. A couple of our boys had been punched on the blindside of the referee.

“It’s in the game, people try to use it to intimidate and some teams cower away from it. Other teams try to turn the other cheek and some go back against it like-for-like.

“We just tried to keep doing what we were doing. The number six who eventually got sent off had also been yellow carded for a no-arm challenge off the ball.

“We knew we were in that type of game. I don’t think any of our guys really mind that stuff because a lot of them have played at quite a high level and are used to people trying to intimidate.

“It didn’t help that it erupted right in front of the stand and the benches. That made it a little more pressurised.

“Their six just lost his head and unleashed three punches to the head of one of the boys, which was clearly evident. The referee had no choice but to give a straight red. From our perspective it was the right decision.

“I was very keen to make sure at that point there was no more silliness. It marred the game as a spectacle a little, you don’t want youngsters sat in the stand to see that.

“That is not what our game is about these days. I think those days are behind us and we don’t want to get involved in that. We want to be known as the best rugby team in this league. The way the boys dealt with it I felt was a credit to them.”

Lions had already sealed a bonus point having touched down through Adam Higgins, Carlos Snell, Hardcastle and Luca Firetto to lead 29-7 at the break.

Higgins then added to his tally and Mike Pope recorded a try double during the second period to wrap up maximum points.

Croker added: “The fracas probably did restrict our number of scores and we probably could have scored another two or three in the final period.

“It ruined the final stages as a spectacle. You just knew you were never very far away from a flare-up, which did take away from the ability to be able to focus on the unemotional aspects of skill-set and game plan.

“The first half we were pleased with. Both Jon (Sanchez) and I felt we weren’t at our best defensively but after half-time we came out and played 20 minutes of rugby that you absolutely dream of.

“All of a sudden there was a little more verve and energy about our attacks and that was really what did for them after half-time.”