CHIPPENHAM director of rugby John Brown hopes that his side savoured tasting derby success at Royal Wootton Bassett last weekend.

The Allington Field men were relegated into South West One East for this term but one of the bonuses of being back at Step Six rugby is the chance to lock horns with near neighbours, and on Saturday, Chippenham helped themselves to a second away win on the trot with a 32-15 victory over Bassett.

“I’ve been a bit critical of the league structure in the past because we don’t seem to get that many local derbies but now that we’ve been relegated, we do have some,” said Brown.

“For any sportsman, you get more excited for a game against a local rival and it’s good fun as well.

“We’ve been threatening to play well for a little while and there were some good performances at the weekend.

“Sammy Saunders and Lewis Surry were very good but Ed Hendy and Henry Corp, who are both only 18, were outstanding.”

Sammy Saunders slotted home an early penalty for Chippenham, who were forced to wear Bassett’s red and white reverse strip due to a kit clash, but Chris Patterson powered over the line in the corner, with David Hogg converting.

Chippenham hit back with converted scores from Bradley Doggett and Lewis Saunders, Saunders adding the extras before a penalty from Hogg made it 17-10 at half-time.

In the second period, Chippenham’s Saunders twice crashed over the line to earn his team a bonus point, converting one of those tries, but after the visitors had Ryan Surrey yellow carded, Bassett capitalised courtesy of a Hogg score.

In the closing stages, there was still time for Chippenham’s Saunders to round things off with a penalty from right in front of the posts.

Bassett head coach Alan Low said: “We came off the field disappointed that we’d not won the game.”