A CHANGED Chippenham produced a solid performance as they opened up a nine-point lead at the top of the table.

Ben Holton made his first-team debut at scrum-half, with fellow new boy Kevin Gunn in the second row, while full-back Jimmy Owen and fly-half Dom Riccio swapped places as Mike Beswick made his first appearance of the season.

Gunn and Luke Corbett almost breached the line early on, but eventually Owen cantered over, Sam Saunders adding the conversion.

Saunders then booted a penalty after Beswick had been taken out during a kick chase and, with Buzzard a man down due to a sin-binning, a perfect lineout move allowed Chris Day to crash over the line, Saunders adding the extras.

Buzzard got on the board as a chip over the top took a wicked bounce that eluded Ryan Surry, leading to the visitors’ opening try before half time.

The away side’s tails were up at the start of the second period and they rumbled across the line from a lineout for their second score, to cut the gap to 10 points.

Saunders though stretched Chippenham clear again with two successful penalties.

The points were sealed in the final 10 minutes as Matt Bye disrupted a Buzzard lineout and Bobby Lyons pounced on the ball to score his 12th try of the season.