MARLBOROUGH retained their place at the summit of Southern Counties South with their seventh win of the campaign as they beat Combe Down 33-7.

Both sides were making mistakes early in the game and it took Marlborough until the 16th minute to break the deadlock when flanker Inosi Laqekoro pounced on a loose ball to offload to James Farrell, who in ran in to touch down. James Clancy added the extras.

Departing fly-half Amori Nailago, who is being posted to Cyprus, bagged try number two with a fantastic show-and-go move, Clancy again converting.

Will Grant ran-in the visitors third try when Clancy set the winger free to score in the corner. The stand-off added the extras to make it 21-0 at the interval.

After the break, Combe Down were determined to get back into the game and they pulled a converted try back when they secured a turnover ball to score.

Marlborough tightened up their play and it was Combe Down who made a mistake in over-throwing at a line-out, allowing Semisi Rasivo to gather the loose ball.

He charged upfield before offloading to the Farrell to score under the posts. Clancy added the easy conversion.

Farrell completed his hat-trick when he robbed the ball off his opposite number at a scrum to break from halfway and bag the final points of the match.

Elsewhere, Devizes were unable to hold on against high-flying Swanage and Wareham as they were beaten 24-13.

George Starr’s second-half try, along with a conversion and two penalties from fly-half Rory Brown, were not enough as the Swans ran in four tries – two in the final 15 minutes – to snatch victory.