READING Abbey Nuns edged closer to the Championship South West Two title with a comprehensive 47-7 win at third-placed Guildford.

Wing Jess Williams opened the scoring for the visitors as deft hands from Alice Denton released her to cross in the corner.

Moments later, a break by centre Annabel Hawkins released Annette Bevan who was hauled down metres from the line, but a series of quick forward carries saw Jess Potter crash over for her first try of the season.

Although Guildford pulled a try back after their fly-half Katie Davies’ superb individual effort, it was talisman Denton who closed out the first half with two tries in opposite corners of the pitch, following excellent sniping by Claire Stevens and Joey Fowler.

Denton’s second try of the day was orchestrated by Meg Fowler, who showed great awareness to straighten and distribute to Denton who wheeled in.

The second-half meant had Nuns with the wind at their backs and the replacements of Hannah Bosher, Fi Manning and Fern Edgar brought a renewed energy to the pitch with them; upping the Nuns’ offloading game and allowing Ellie Rice to start attacking through well-placed box-kicks.

Although hooker Stevens had a try disallowed, moments later flanker Abi Wall pounced on a loose ball at the back of a scrum to secure the bonus-point.

Nuns were in full throttle now and despite Guildford continuing to bring a physical presence to their attack, the away side thwarted all of it with a strong tackle and turnover game plan, which was spearheaded by flanker Sarah Odenbach and scrum-half Rice.

Denton added two more tries of her own to bring her tally to four; the latter finishing off a well-timed run from Hawkins, while Bevan and Williams rounded off the scoring.

Now 16 points clear at the top of the table, and with two rest weekends coming up, Abbey are now targeting an unbeaten season, as well as an inaugural Intermediate Cup win.

Delighted head coach Lewis Jones said: "It was the most complete performance I’ve seen this team deliver in the last two years, and I'm just gutted we’ve got to wait two weeks until I can watch them play again."