CHIPPENHAM are on the rise at last after climbing off the foot of the South West One East table with a 23-18 victory at fellow strugglers Reading on Saturday.

The Allington Field men secured only their second victory of the campaign - their second win in four matches and first away from home - to jump to 12th in the table and boost their hopes of pulling away from the drop zone.

Their first away win arrived as Sam Saunders booted the visitors into an early lead with a penalty and a try from Brad Doggett extended their advantage.

Reading responded but a forwards charge took Chippenham over the line, Matt Bye emerging with the ball and Saunders converting for an 15-8 interval lead.

Chippenham, crucially, drew first blood in the second period as Saunder landed a further penalty shot but Reading stormed back with two unconverted tries to cut their deficit.

However, Chippenham’s forward dominance paid off as they surged forward again and quick hands sent Matt Dickens over in the corner for the clinching score, despite a further Reading try.

Royal Wootton Bassett raised the standard as they returned to winning ways against Windsor at the weekend.

Alan Low’s side went into last weekend’s break having suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since their promotion to South West One East last season.

Bassett completed a 41-15 win over second-from-bottom Windsor to maintain fourth place in the division, just nine points off leaders Old Patesians – a side Bassett narrowly beat away from home earlier in the season.

“It was a much better performance from us this weekend,” said Low. “We had a bit more intensity to our game and we looked like the side we were the first five or six weeks of the season.

“We started quite well, got some parity up front and our execution was a lot higher.

“We managed to put them under some immediate pressure from the kick off and just played our way into the game, which is probably one of the things we didn’t do the week before the break.

“We showed an awful lot more composure, which is good, and it is good to see the guys are listening and that transgressed onto the field.

“I’d like to say it was a bit of the pressure coming off. Although we played down the local derby, it was one of those games and it probably got to the younger lads.

“We had a couple of boys back and a few new faces, so it was good.”