Huntingdon suffered their first defeat of the Midlands Division One East season on Saturday.

The Stags’ super start to the campaign came to an end as they went down 44-23 at a Bedford Athletic outfit tipped to challenge for promotion.

They were unable to recover after conceding 17 points in the opening 12 minutes despite tries from Reggie Reid, Seth Muggeridge and James Thorp.

It was a case of third time lucky for St Neots as they claimed their first success in Midlands Division Three East (South).

The Saints shrugged off a couple of season-opening defeats to triumph 29-21 at Northampton Casuals.

St Ives went down heavily 46-10 at Leicester side Old Newtonians in the same division.