The fixture marked the return of the Rams to Old Bath Road following the refurbishment of their clubhouse, but they struggled in the first half against the visiting All Whites.

Rams took the lead in the eighth minute courtesy of a James Brooks penalty, awarded after Abbot were pinged for joining a ruck from the side.

But the visitors stormed back to snatch the lead when fly half Stephen Ward and centre Jordan Anderton ripped apart Rams defence for the latter to finish off and touch down for an unconverted score.

In an end-to-end opening 40 minutes, Rams regained the lead through their opening try on 27 minutes when, from Brooks’ kick and the resultant line-out, good work again from David Massey and Joe Duffelen set up fly-half Luke Flower for a great cross-field kick that Josh Sunley gathered to sprint over in the corner for his debut club try.

Brooks added the extras but the visitors cut the gap to two points through a Josh Smith penalty shortly after.

And it was Smith who rubbed salt in the wound as Rams lost their second line-out in succession soon afterwards and the visitors took advantage for the full back to beat the home defence to the touchdown of his well weighted kick into the Rams in-goal area.

His conversion extended the lead to 15-10 at the break, and Rams’ problems continued when Flower had to be taken off with a head injury three minutes into the second half.

However with Brooks moving to stand off and Jack Hill coming on at scrum half, they began to assert control and took a 56th-minute lead which they would never relinquish.

Flanker Azza Hopkins and lock Tom Bryson drove hard and set up replacement back row man Jamie Guttridge to beat the flailing defence and to smash his way over the visitors line.

Brooks again converted and although Rams were once more forced to re-organise due to Hill’s ankle injury, they had the visitors rattled and scored again almost immediately.

This time it was Hopkins’ 60-metre mazy run that was the catalyst with Duffelen, Brooks and hooker Ben Henderson all playing their part to set up their skipper Andy Amor to dummy his way over for his third try of the season.

Brooks duly obliged with the conversion as he did with Rams’ final try, just four minutes later, after another dazzling run from Sunley paved the way for Guttridge to storm over the visitors line for his second touchdown and to bring out another huge touchline conversion from Brooks.

Speaking after the game, captain Amor admitted: “We had a slow start and they came out of the traps and got that early score and it took us until the second half to really come alive but, even with the disruptions losing Luke and Jack, the boys came through well to get the bonus point.

“It was great for the team to bounce back from last week’s defeat and to play the side that were above us in the table. We took five points, stopped them scoring a league point and that showed what the boys are really all about.”

Rams now sit second in the table - six points behind unbeaten leaders Exmouth but with a game in hand - and travel to Old Centralians on Saturday.

Flower and Hill remain doubts for the game following the injuries they picked up against Newton Abbot.