INJURY-HIT Devizes slipped deeper into the relegation mire as fellow strugglers Buckingham inflicted a 12th straight South West One East defeat on the London Road side.

The home side were depleted in the pack, former first team skipper Tim Alchin along those earning a call-up.

Devizes were under early pressure, but their defence stood firm and, with Tom Reed and James Gaiger leading from the front, a solid scrum allowed the backs space to send Jorge Wadman in at the corner for the opening try.

Buckingham’s Calum Gillie landed a penalty and they then grabbed the lead as centre James Lee intercepted and sprinted under the posts, Gillie adding the conversion.

Lee was then sin-binned after sustained Devizes pressure saw the centre penalised for a late hit on home fly-half Andy Thompson and Rory Brown reduced arrears with the penalty.

But Buckingham responded well and mauled over a lineout in the corner for a 15-8 interval lead.

Devizes pummelled away at the visitors’ line early in the second half, but Buckingham stood firm until Thompson took the option of a drop goal to cut the gap to four.

Again though, Buckingham mauled their way over the line and Gillie converted to stretch the advantage before the bonus-point score, converted by Gillie, took the game beyond the home side.

Devizes though enjoyed their best spell of the match and Wadman again eluded the defence to touch down in the corner.

The wide man was then denied a hat-trick score – and team losing bonus point – when he was unable to ground the ball for his hat-trick.