CHIPPENHAM earned themselves a valuable five points in an increasingly tight battle at the bottom of South West One East as they stormed past bottom side Reading 46-14 at Allington Field.

Sitting second from bottom before kick-off after two defeats, the home side were in need of a boost and piled the pressure on early, with the scrum particularly dominant.

Quick hands saw Bradley Doggett go over in the corner before Doggett turned provider for Sean Johnson, who was felled just short of the try line.

As gaps began to appear in the Reading defence, two tries in quick succession followed for Sam Saunders, although Reading responded with a breakaway score from the halfway line.

More slick handling from the forwards then set up Jon Turner to storm down the wing and touch down under the posts for a 24-7 half-time lead.

The home side conceded a number of penalties at the start of the second period but, having started lethargically, Chippenham got the scoring going again as Aaron Clark went over out wide.

Continuing to work their patterns, the hosts retained possession well and Matt Dickens went over for the sixth try before Sam Graham crashed over for another in the corner.

With fatigue setting in, Turner pounced on a mistake in midfielder to cross from halfway and wrap up the victory.

Royal Wootton Bassett head coach Alan Low is all too aware how important Saturday’s win over Windsor could be in their fight for survival.

The situation in South West One East had begun to look worrying for the Ballards Ash side, having picked up just one win in their last 11 outings.

However, a fine first half display laid the foundations for Bassett to record a 29-19 win on the road and climb above their hosts in the league table.

“It was a good first half performance,” said Low.

“We left a little bit to be worked on in the second half but it was about seeing the game out and playing for the 80 minutes.

“It was nice to get over the line and it’s not so much relief but it’s a big help.

“We had a flying start and we did against them at our own place as well.

“We showed a lot of character in the second half and had to dig deep and get a little bit of control because they are fighting for survival as well.

“What we have got to start doing is turning the performances into league points.

“There is just that little bit of learning now over the next few weeks where we have got to go from a side who are playing for 70 minutes and getting rid of the yips.”

Bassett made things difficult for themselves when two centres Tim Gallimore and Elye Darragh were both pinned for high tackles but Low’s side were able to hold their opponents at bay whilst down two men.

“Saturday was a much-improved performance but also credit to the boys, we went down to 13 players at one point,” added Low.

“We had two yellow cards and to show the type of character that we did to hold them out.

“They didn’t score while we had players in the sin bin, which was massive.

“We reacted to it and fronted up and they tried to keep attacking us through the forwards and we held out.”