WOOTTON Bassett Colts fielded a combined U16/17 side against a similar Melksham team and ended comfortable 34-19 winners.

Both sides treated the fixture as a development game, which gave Bassett the opportunity to start a number of U16 players with the older age group for the first time this season.

Bassett were first on to the board, Sam Barwell scoring an unconverted try as they put in some monster tackles though Connor Campbell and captain Ollie Maher.

Melksham responded with their own try, but Bassett fly-half Gavin Ougan went in under the posts and Tom Hogg converted.

However, back came Melksham again with their own converted score before the interval to leave it at 12-12.

Bassett made a couple of changes at half-time with Tucker Blinkhorn replacing Campbell at outside-centre and Ben Pinniger replacing Jed Elias, who was playing his first game of the season at tighthead prop.

Bassett started the second half much more purposefully and following a quick tap-and-go penalty, Hogg moved the ball quickly on the blind side to full-back Dom Lattimer, who held off a couple of strong challenges to score in the corner and Bassett extended their lead to 17-12.

Twenty minutes into the second half, Bassett made their final substitutions, with Rob Hart replacing Joe Taylor in the second-row and Craig Rayner replacing Gareth Edwards at inside-centre.

Rayner was involved almost immediately, seeing Lattimer join the line and a slick pass saw the full-back make 20 metres.

Strong supporting play allowed Bardwell to collect the ball 10 metres from the Melksham try line from where he barged over to score.

Three minutes later he repeated the move completing his hat-trick and Bassett eased further into the lead 27-12.

As in the first half, Bassett allowed Melksham back into the game to score a converted try almost from the restart.

But as the final whistle approached, a tremendous driving maul allowed Bassett to move deep into Melksham territory, and again Lattimer arrived at speed late into the line to score his second try of the game, which he converted himself.

Captain Ollie Maher said: “We wanted to give a number of the lads who’ve not had much game time an extended run and they responded brilliantly.

“We weren’t firing too well in the first half, but we got into our stride in the second - our scrum was solid and our rucking was excellent.

“We tried a few players in different positions, which will give us something to think about in our upcoming cup games next month”.

Bassett’s next fixtures see the U16s away at Stow-on-the-Wold on Sunday, November 1 and the U17s at Stoneover Lane the following Sunday for their Dorset & Wilts Cup quarter final against Swanage and Wareham (2pm).

Bassett: Josh Jefferys, Greg Ward, Jed Elias, Joe Taylor, Ryan Warren, Cameron Pryde, Ollie Maher (capt), Sam Bardwell, Tom Hogg, Gavin Ougan, Andy Saunders, Gareth Edwards, Connor Campbell, Matt Gill Dom Lattimer. Subs: Rob Hart, Ben Pinniger, Tucker Blinkhorn, Craig Rayner.

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