YOUTH RUGBY: THE combined Devizes and Melksham U15s team emerged from their tour of East Anglia with two comprehensive victories.

In the first match against Lowestoft and Yarmouth, a large but raw team from England's most easterly rugby outpost, the tourists were forced to start without stalwart tight head Ewan Lacey.

He had succumbed to an ankle injury in the warm-up.

They failed to find any pattern for the first 15 minutes but nerves were settled when fly half Scott Simmons cruised over in the corner to score.

Devizes and Melksham went further ahead when a forward charge over fully 50 metres from a lineout was touched down by Matt Sollars and converted by Simmons.

Some rapid reshuffling took place when replacement tight head Chris Rogers had to go off with a back injury and sloppy blind side defending saw Lowestoft secure a try just before half-time to leave the match poised at 12-5.

The second half began brightly for the visitors with Sollars again touching down after a penalty on the 22metre line that Simmons converted from the touchline.

Sollars made it a hat-trick when he was again put over following good work from hooker Adam Pegg.

Lowestoft struck back with a penalty from in front of the posts and the visitors then saw themselves down to 14 men when flanker Alex Britton was sin-binned for some over-zealous rucking.

But they responded magnificently when flying winger Ralf Whitcher gathered a kick ahead and sped fully 50 metres down the touchline to score for a 31-8 lead.

They were then reduced to 13 men when captain David Finlay hobbled off with a leg injury but was ably replaced by the lively Ashley Carrol, with Chris Hobbs moving to the wing.

But this injury was shortly followed by controversy when a mass brawl broke out that resulted in Britton receiving a second yellow card for retaliation and two Lowestoft players being sent off.

Sollars then rounded off a storming performance by stealing a lineout and crossing for his fourth try that sealed a hard-earned 36-8 victory.

The following day saw the Devizes and Melksham combined team take on Norfolk's leading club side, North Walsham for an eagerly anticipated East versus West encounter.

Walsham took an ominous early lead when a blind side break saw them cross unopposed but within minutes the tourists struck back when a quickly taken penalty saw the impressive lock Tom Davidson move the ball out to Sollars who put Whitcher in.

Better was to follow when Simmons scored after a delightful dummy scissors move although both scores went unconverted in the stiff breeze.

Some intense pressure from the massive Walsham pack and their powerful backs was repelled in the minutes leading up to half time.

The visitors were grateful for some particularly fine defensive tackling from outside centre, Simon Neck and full back Simon Ellinger.

The whistle came at just the right moment for the hard-working bombined defence.

The second half began with a superb set of rucks that resulted in Harris, breaking away from a ruck to put Finlay in for a superb try, which was converted by Simmons.

From this point, the superior fitness of the combined team really began to show through with the smaller pack beginning to dominate their opponents.

In particular flanker Ben Fox snuffed out any threat from the home team while scrum half Johnny Mills was a constant threat with some sniping runs and good distribution.

The result was put beyond doubt when Simmons ran in a tapped penalty from 15 metres.

The game was rounded off when a superb defensive clearance kick from Whitcher caused the home side to attempt to run out of their own 22 and a handling error was pounced upon by loose head Tom Jonik who ran 30 metres to touch down in the corner to seal an impressive 27-5 victory.