Crockett's double seals league victory

AFTER last weekend's disappointing home defeat by Abbey, Chippenham illustrated one of their biggest faults this season, inconsistency, with a superb away win at league leaders Slough.

Fielding a side with only one change from the previous week, Rich Davis back at fly-half for the flu-stricken Trevor Lloyd, Chippenham blasted away their high flying opposition with a tremendous first half performance.

After conceding an early penalty, the Chippenham pack set about dominating their counterparts in the set piece and loose play which allowed the Chippenham backs to cut loose. From a midfield position, quick ball allowed Davis to release centre Rupert Crockett who scored under the posts and was converted by full back James Barnard.

Excellent tactical kicking from Davis pushed Slough on the defensive and it was from a scrum 10 yards out from the Slough try line that Chippenham scored their second try. The home side deliberately collapsing the scrum only a yard short of the line gave the referee no choice but to award a penalty try, converted by Barnard.

Another inch perfect kick from Davis saw Chippenham only 10 yards from the

Slough try line. Second row, John Todd, stole the resulting line-out throw and the Chippenham eight drove for the line. Left wing, Gary Squires, joined the drive and from the rear of the maul dived over in the corner to extend the Chippenham lead to 21-6 at half-time.

After the break Chippenham continued to push forward and forced the Slough defenders to continually breach the offside line. Barnard slotted another penalty to give Chippenham a comfortable 24 - 6 lead. The home team did rally in the final quarter only to see one of their better attacking moves intercepted by centre Rupert Crockett who raced 40 yards to score his second try of the game.

Back row Kenny Brown spent the last 10 minutes in the sin bin and Chippenham had to endure an onslaught from Slough that brought the home side a try.

It was no more than a consolation and Chippenham held out to secure their best away win of the season so far.

Chippenham now face fellow title contenders Marlow on Saturday at Allington Field for another crucial South West Two league encounter. Kick-off is at 2.30pm.

Chippenham A 26, Minety 14

CHIPPENHAM took the honours against Minety in a hard fought and entertaining derby at Allington Field.

Chippenham started strongly with fly-half, Nick Fitzwater floating a lovely pass over the heads of the Minety defence to release winger Chris Walker for the first try inside five minutes, Alan Baskerville adding the conversion.

Fitzwater followed this up minutes later as he linked with flanker Kevin Thornton to release number eight Mario Testa to barge his way through a last ditch tackle to score in the corner and extend Chippenham's lead.

With Thornton suffering a shoulder injury in the scoring move and being forced to leave the pitch, Chippenham's bright start faltered a little as Minety hit back with a converted try to go into the break 12-7 down.

With the start of the second half Chippenham showed they had recovered from these setbacks as they began to string together some fine three-quarter moves. With both centres, Knight and Griffin, keeping their opposite numbers on their toes and full back Baskerville running the ball at every opportunity, Chippenham again took the upper hand. This was rewarded soon after as Mike Griffin showed his strength and powerful running to break through the Minety defence and score under the posts, Baskerville converting.

To their credit, Minety kept battling and hit back with a second converted try midway through the half. Any hopes they may have had of the saving the match were extinguished with a customary solo try by winger Jocelyn Barnes ten minutes from time. With Baskerville again adding the conversion the Chippenham defence shut up shop to ensure a deserved win.

DEVIZES fielded three sides against Cooper-Avon Melksham on Saturday.

The Saddlebacks won 27-5 with a less than convincing performance, although every win builds up confidence.

This Saturday they face the first serious League test, a home game against Wimborne, who are always formidable opponents.

Devizes 17 2nds,

Cooper-Avon Melksham 24

PLAYING with a changed team, Devizes were caught cold by the visitors, who came out on the attack from the first whistle.

The first 15 minutes saw the visitors camped in the Devizes half with excellent ball retention and constant pressure from really pushing Devizes.

After 20 minutes the visitors managed to breach the Devizes defence and touch down under the posts, making the extra points easy.

This sparked the home side into action and they responded well. Good work from the pack-enabled scrum half Curley to supply good ball to the backs to work with.

Devizes' first points came from new hooker Chris Belle, a hard straight drive saw him crash over for a fine try.

This brought Devizes right back into the game and from this point the home side seemed to have more belief in themselves.

Excellent scrummage pressure left the visitors with no option but to concede a penalty try that Lowe easily converted.

The two sides turned around at half time with Devizes having a 1210 lead that they should of built on.

Midway through the second half the Melksham side scored two tries in quick succession that seemed to have killed off the Devizes challenge.

Belle had other ideas. Another barnstorming drive saw him once again over the line and on his way to the man of the match award.

Time was running out for the home side and although finishing well were unable to close the gap any further.

Referee Bathe had to use all of his rugby knowledge to try to sort out the two front rows towards the end of the game as players became tired.

The Devizes side contained four players under the age of 20, who all played very well.

Melksham and Devizes under 13s were beaten by Chippenham under 13s on Sunday.

Both teams were well represented, with over 20 players available for the combined Melksham and Devizes squad.

Chippenham collected the ball from the kick-off and passed it out wide and ran into space. Determined defensive play by Melksham and Devizes was unable to prevent Chippenham from scoring the first try.

Territorial advantage was more often with Melksham and Devizes who fought hard to retain possession. Solid scrums and disciplined line-out play from both teams made this an example of youth rugby that both players and coaches could be rightfully proud of.

During the second session, following a driving run up the left hand side by Chris Scruton, Melksham and Devizes won the ball from a scrum just ten yards out from the Chippenham line. Young scrum half Jonathan Mills fed the ball out and Danny Plaxton knifed through the Chippenham defence to score the visitors' only try.

This was truly a team score, with contributions to it from all. Alex Smith and Ross Sinclair (Melksham and Devizes) had been moved from their usual second row position to employ their foraging skills for the backs, where the partnership proved to be most successful.

Undeterred by the mounting Chippenham score line Melksham and Devizes continued to the last to take the game to their opposition, playing most of the final session in the Chippenham half. By the end of the final session Chippenham were victorious, but appreciative of a good game that had been played against worthy opponents.