BOSS Will Croker revealed how his Bournemouth players had taken on board half-time “home truths” in the win at Weston-super-Mare.

Lions trailed 20-16 at the break but preserved their perfect South West Premier record by running in five tries after the restart to power to a 49-25 success.

Asked what had changed at half-time, Croker told the Daily Echo: “Jon (Sanchez, coach) and I weren’t happy. We felt we had absorbed too much at set-pieces, in the maul, in the tackle, in the contact area and when we were carrying.

“We weren’t challenging Weston enough and weren’t direct enough in our play. There were too many unforced errors in the strike zone and too many penalties given away.

“We were probably a bit lucky to turn round just four points down. They conceded two penalties quite close to half-time which Grant (Hancox) slotted but had we been 20-10 down, we couldn’t have been too upset.

“For the first time in quite a while, I had to give the players a few home truths and let them know that was not the standard we expected as coaches and that they should not be expecting it as players, and that they needed to be more direct.

“They did it straight off the bat. I was hoping for a reaction and after Dan Stewart’s try, the confidence suddenly flowed.

“It was a moment which came at the right time. We had kicked two penalties before half-time, Weston were a bit dejected and we rallied the troops and they reacted.

“As coaches, that’s all you can ask for.”

Lions are top of the standings with 15 points in the locker but they certainly did it the hard way at Weston.

Hancox and Glenn Dickson exchanged penalties early on but Danny Spelman’s converted try and a further Dickson penalty put the hosts 13-3 up.

Having spun out of a tackle five metres from the try line, Hancox went over before adding the extras.

George Chapman dotted down for a converted score but a couple of Hancox penalties kept Lions in touch.

Three tries in nine second-half minutes handed Lions the initiative. Hancox’s line break and long pass to wing Dan Stewart kicked matters off. The provider then slotted the additional two points.

Replacement Chris Jeffes broke clear to score a converted try before scrum-half Sam Hardcastle touched down for the bonus point having picked up from a ruck. Hancox converted.

Good work from Karim Lynch allowed Danny Kirkpatrick to cross, with Robbie Mackay hitting back when he profited from a cross-field kick.

Although Lions finished the game with 14 men after Hardcastle had been sin-binned, they still managed another converted score through Jeffes.

Croker’s men will aim to maintain their winning start to the season when they travel to Bracknell on Saturday.

Lions: Lynch, Stewart, Hancox, Chislett, Higgins, Pope, Hardcastle, M Davies, Tarrant, Firetto, Roberts, Hennings, Manning, Flett, Renwick. Replacements: Bennett, Jeffes, MacDonald.