The hosts took an early lead courtesy of a Luke Berry penalty in the seventh minute, but prop Ken Dowding then opened Bracknell’s account for the afternoon with a try two minutes later from a driving maul.

Wing George Owen slotted the conversion and the visitors extended their advantage just six minutes later when Dowding again powered over from the base of a ruck near the Barnstaple try line.

With Owen again adding the extras Bracknell led 14-3 and their opponents were then reduced to 14 men as wing Ryan Brend was sinbinned.

And Rory Greenslade-Jones’ side made the most of their numerical advantage as flanker George Milligan squeezed over in the left hand corner.

But the visitors suffered a double blow just before the break, as, following a sustained period of Barnstaple pressure, both Stuart Silvester and Leo Bailey were carded.

They too made the most of their extra men by scoring just two minutes into the second half.

No. 8 Linford Brock made a fine run from the halfway line before off loading to 18-year-old scrum half Jordan Petherbridge who scorched home.

Fly-half Berry nailed the conversion but later missed a penalty, and Bracknell wrapped up the bonus point when Owen continued his red-hot try-scoring form by dotting down from his side’s first real attack of the half.

And he then added a penalty to put the Lily Hill Park side 27-10 to the good.

Barnstaple hit back with centre Rob Elliott crossing the whitewash before Berry’s conversion reduced the arrears to just 10 points.

But any hopes the home side had of securing a losing bonus point were dashed as Joe Price - taking over from the departed Dan Antonelli at fly-half - broke through before passing to Milligan for his second try.

Owen again added the two points and Bracknell saw out the game with ease.

Bracknell return to Lily Hill Park this Saturday when they host Bournemouth (3pm ko).