AN ABJECT first-half display saw Bournemouth go down 47-12 at National Two South rivals Bury St Edmunds and heaped more pressure on the division’s bottom side.

The hosts ran in five tries in a blistering opening 40 minutes that put paid to any hopes Lions had of getting something from the game.

The Chapel Gate outfit took the four-hour coach trip to Suffolk to face ninth-placed Bury St Edmonds and hoped to come away with points to lift them off the bottom of the pile.

Off the back of an inspirational second-half performance against Dings Crusaders a fortnight ago, head coach Jon Sanchez had been happy with his team’s progress.

But it was a familiar story as Bournemouth struggled for 20 minutes and found themselves down by 40 points at the break.

Hooker Alan Manning crossed for the visitors straight after the restart and memories of the Dings display must have come flooding back.

But it was not to be this time as Bury St Edmunds shut up shop for the following half-hour, until wing Dan Stewart added further late consolation followed by Grant Hancox’s conversion.

The hosts added their own try on the final whistle to seal a 35-point margin of victory.

Bournemouth can draw some solace from results elsewhere, as other teams in the bottom half of the table suffered defeat.

Sutton & Epsom lost heavily to Redruth and Westcliff were on the wrong side of a two-point defeat against Old Albanians.

Barnes lost an epic contest by a point against Worthing and Old Redcliffians came unstuck at Leicester Lions, who the Chapel Gate outfit host on Saturday.