A HAT trick of tries for Gary Champion and two more from new boy John Hoyle helped Chippenham get off to a convincing start to their season.

Champion's first try came virtually from the start of the first half. He carved his way through the mid-field, going through glaring gaps and raced for the line to score. This was to prove a feature of play for the match, Chippenham exploiting gaps and spaces giving their three-quarters the chance to score.

Chippenham also dominated the line-outs, gaining plenty of possession. The sin binning of Chippenham's Kev Thornton (for killing the ball), along with Frome's best player on the day, did not upset the rhythm or formation of Chippenham. Two further tries followed one from John Hoyle and a second from Champion.

It gave the visitors a commanding lead of 19 - 0 going into the half time break.

From the restart, an indiscretion from Chippenham gave Frome a penalty which was converted and gave the home side their first points of the game. But Chippenham carried on where they left off in the first half. Champion grabbed his third, completing his hat-trick and Hoyle added his second of the match.

Chippenham then had to suffer the sin-binning of another player, second row Simon Keith again for killing the ball, late into the half.

This time, Frome took advantage of Chippenham being down to 14 men and scored their only try of the match, going over in the corner. The conversion was missed.

John Hoyle completed a good afternoon for him, kicking three conversions and a penalty.

Robbie Spiers, chairman of the Senior Playing section at Chippenham was pleased at the improvement in the team.

He said: 'This was a great improvement on the previous week. A winning start to the season away from home as well. Next week we will have to up our game even more against Swanage and Wareham at home.'

Chippenham 2nds 62

Frome 2nds 7

CHIPPENHAM ratched up an emphatic win at Allington Field in their last friendly fixture before starting their Merit Table campaign.

Five tries in each half showed the watching crowd that this season, the second team are up for promotion.

Captain Royston Davies opened the scoring within the first five minutes with a try,converted by Gordon Harvey, their new openside flanker. This opened the floodgates and four further tries followed from winger Dave Burrows, second row Tim Gibb and fly-half Matt Spurway playing out of his normal position.

All five tries were converted by Harvey. Some excellent inter linking skills betweens the forwards and backs contributed greatly to the score. It gave the home side a very comfortable lead of 35-0 going at half time.

The second half was pretty much a mirror of the first. Five more tries were scored. Davies and Burrows adding their second with full back Phil Gould and another member of the second row Neil Watkins getting on the scoreboard. Harvey was not so successful with his boot and only one try was converted.

Replacements Micky Dyer and John Billett replaced Dave Williams and Julian Squires during the second half.

Captain Davies was well pleased with his team's performance. He said: "It was a much improved performance on the previous week. There were some outstanding individual performances noteably Matt Spurway, who controlled the game well, Dave Burrows who came up from the third team and Will Nicklin had a very good game.''

Frome 3rds 5, Chippenham 24

DESPITE playing with a dislocated finger, captain Ian Bannister opened the scoring for Chippenham early on in the first half. The conversion was kicked by Ceri Morris.

Jay Whittaker then added a second try for Chippenham which again was converted by Morris. Frome responded late in the half by going over the line for a try which was not converted.

In the second half two further tries came from Mike Griffin. He crashed through a weak Frome defence to go over the line, the conversion was missed. Chris Cook also went over after some excellent good play by the Chippenham backs. The final score was a fair reflection of play throughout the game.

Several changes to the starting lineup did not disrupt the consistency of the team. Scott Turnbull, Andy Clamp and Pete Gingell replaced Chris Murrow, Jay Whittaker and Mark Durahm.

Bannister said; 'We played much better this week. We kept the defence tight, played some attacking moves and a good performance from new front row player Neil Reynolds along with Chris Murrows and Lynton Hackett gave a good platform on which to work.''

Next week Chippenham play Oldfield Old Boys in the Merit Table.