NORTH Petherton captain Sam Williams says he is delighted with his side's start to the new campaign, after they secured their third bonus-point win of the season with a 32-16 win at Hornets.

Wing Mike Stephens bagged a brace to continue his red-hot try-scoring form, and there were also tries for Gavin Hancock and one for Williams himself.

The newly-appointed club captain couldn't have aksed for a better start from his side, but thinks it is too early to be predicting potential champions.

He said: “We are really pleased with how we have started, definitely. We're playing really well and with confidence so I can't ask for any more. The league is wide open this season and everyone is beating everyone at the moment, so we'll have to wait for it to settle down before we can see who is going to be up there.

“We had a couple of yellow cards on Saturday and managed to hold out well when we were down to fourteen men. It was really important to do that and we were pleased with our defence.”

Williams also held out praise for Kiwi fly-half Jacob Beleski, who joined Pethy at the start of the season. He said: “He's got such great vision and really gets the team ticking. He's a fly-half who plays right on the gain line, bringing our back line into play. He's a very clever player and hopefully he can keep playing well for us.”

Pethy got off to a flying start against Hornets, as Mike Stephens touched down in the corner following a strong break through the midfield.

Gavin Hancock touched down in the corner for Pethy's second of the afternoon, and Mike Stephens added his second minutes into the second half.

Captain Williams rounded off a clinical team performance when he bundled over from close range, to send North Petherton into third position in Tribute South West One West.

They welcome Thornbury to Beggars Brook next Saturday (October 5) , hoping to build on a promising start to the new campaign.