DEVIZES ended Midsomer Norton’s title hopes as victory at London Road helped to hand county rivals Royal Wootton Bassett the title.

The Saddlebacks, beaten 27-5 in Somerset before Christmas, turned the tables to maintain their hopes of a top-four finish and also headed into Wednesday night’s Bath Combination Cup tie with Chippenham in good spirits.

After riding out the initial storm from the visitors, an electric burst up the right touchline saw some lovely offloading from Josh Lewis following a break from Travis Orwin allow prop Tom Reed to go over in the corner, fly-half Dan Sainsbury landing a tough conversion.

Norton responded well, crossing under the posts despite strong home defence, but with Orwin proving particularly tricky to handle, Sainsbury landed a penalty to nudge the home side clear again.

More running rugby almost sent in Reed, who tripped with the line beckoning, before a fine move sent Sam Jones over in the corner for his seventh try of the season.

Leading 15-7 at half-time, Devizes extended the advantage as Reed piled over from close-range before Josh Lewis broke off a maul to ground the ball for another try, Sainsbury converting to make it 27-7.

With Reed in the sin-bin, Norton responded with a try but Sainsbury eased home nerves, dragging defenders with him across the line for another score to wrap up the result and end their visitors’ title dreams.