DEVIZES kept the top of the Southern Counties South table within sight as they defeated Dorset Dockers in the first-ever meeting between the sides.

After some initial surges it wasn’t long before Devizes dominance at the set piece became apparent with the front row of Tom Reed, Dean Curle and Toby Randall in the ascendancy.

A five metre scrum allowed number eight Craig Bryant to wriggle over the line for the first score of the day and, from a tight angle, Andy Thompson judged the wind perfectly to add the extras.

In the wide channels, young flanker Josh Lewis showed pace to stretch down the left wing and then neatly offloaded into the supporting Chris Barter who dotted down over in the corner.

Dockers hit back with an unconverted try but Devizes, who handed Will Hine and Stan Alsop first-team debuts off the bench, responded with a penalty from Thompson, but then lost club captain Julian Taylor to a dislocated shoulder.

Another set of strong carries yielded a try for the visitors to cut their half-time deficit to five points.

In the second half Barter and Lewis combined again to allow the flanker to out-sprint the cover defence for his sixth league try of the season, Thompson again adding a difficult conversion.

A couple of other opportunities went begging but the bonus-point try arrived as Bryant sprinted through some space to go under the posts to allow Thompson to add the easy extras and wrap up victory