CHIPPENHAM suffered a second defeat in their last three games after a lacklustre performance on the trip to Grove.

Danny Thomas’ side remain five points clear at top of the South West One East table and are in pole position for the title but this was another worrying blip following the 13-6 loss at home to Witney a fortnight earlier.

Head coach Thomas said: “It’s been very disappointing in the last few weeks.

“Our preparation wasn’t great this weekend and we’ve come away with a disappointing result.

“Grove played quite well but we made a few handing errors and individual mistakes, which didn’t help our cause.

“And our driving maul has been a big asset for us so far this season but it didn’t function as we’d have liked at the weekend.”

Chippenham were forced to make six changes to their side following a spate of player absences and Grove took advantage early on with a converted try in the opening few minutes.

The visitors rallied but were unable to make any inroads on the scoreboard before half-time.

Grove pulled further ahead with a second touchdown after the break but Lewis Surry crossed the whitewash to give Chippenham a lifeline, converted by Ryan Surry.

Momentum seemed to swing further Chippenham’s way when two Grove players were sent to the sin-bin but they failed to capitalise and the home side were able to put the game to bed once they were back up to their full complement.

Thomas added: “I think it was only 7-0 at half-time so there was still everything to play for.

“We got ourselves into some good positions to score but couldn’t make the most of them. We had five or six good opportunities but came up short almost every time.”