Fourth South West One East win for Marlborough as Chippenham draw

Testing conditions at The Common made Marlborough's preferred brand of open rugby difficult, but the home side started the game well,scoring the first try of the game after nine minutes.

A backs move move involving Pio Tuwai and Joeli Radovu, saw the ball moved out to Miteli Vulkijapani, who ran in under the posts, Tom West converting.

A second try followed as West's attempted touchfinder sliced into midfield, where Vulkijapani won the ball in the air and outpaced the defender to go under the posts, West again adding the extras.

Banbury got back into it in the second half through a penalty try, as Vulkijapani was yellow-carded for the home side.

But despite being a man down Marlborough extended the lead as replacement Amori Nailago put in superb cross-field kick and Joeli Radovu caught the ball one-handed in the air and sprinted his way over, West adding the extras.

The hosts then lost Lemeki Moala to the sin-bin for a high tackle and Banbury took the opportunity to score their second try as a result.

An improved performance from Chippenham resulted in a 26-26 draw against Beaconsfield at Allington Field.

Despite going close early on, the home side were unable to force their way through and Beaconsfield were first on to the scoreboard with a penalty.

The hosts stormed back as an attack initiated by scrum-half Ben Hathaway ended with debutant Rob Matamosi scoring out side.

Then a break from Ryan Surry set up Jacob Unwin for the second try, Al MacKenzie landing the conversion for a 12-3 lead.

Beaconsfield though got back into it with a converted try and with Chippenham struggling at the breakdown, a further penalty from the visitors gave them a one-point advantage at the interval.

With the rain continuing to fall, Beaconsfield continued their purple patch as a converted try and penalty handed them a commanding 23-12 advantage.

But a a barnstorming run by the impressive Neli Kolinisau ended with a try for Mark Hendry, who had earlier replaced injured Chippenham captain Aaron Clark and MacKenzie converted to bring them to within four points.

Beaconsfield stretched that with a further penalty but Chippenham continued to hammer away at the visitors' line and eventually broke through again as Dan Keat touched down and MacKenzie's conversion drew the sides level.

Chippenham head coach John Brown said: "It was a cracking game in tough conditions but Chippenham left a good few points out there.

"We gave away too many penalties and need to listen to the referee. Respect to Beaconsfield who produced a good performance and we look forward to meeting up again later in the season.''

Royal Wootton Bassett returned to winning ways with a bonus point 35-3 home win over Stratford on Avon.

Stratford surprised the home side early on with a large pack carrying the ball in the blustery conditions and earned a penalty to take the lead in the eighth minute.

A long period of midfield stalemate was eventually broken when a Bassett rolling maul saw them advance 15 metres to the Stratford line before powerful prop Chris Rowland touched down.

Fly-half Tom Fieldsend converted and although Stratford stayed on terms to the interval, Bassett dominated the second half.

Opting for a scrum from a penalty the Bassett pack drove forwards and when the ball was deliberately kicked from the set-piece, Bassett were awarded a penalty try.

The home side then spent virtually the rest of the game in the Stratford half, the third try coming when another attack by the pack that saw the ball released to second row Chris Patterson, who went on a bullocking run to force his way over.

Fieldsend converted and a similar move saw number eight Neil Smith pick up and get to the line, Fieldsend again adding the extras.

Late on, a punt forward saw Elye Darragh win the chase and feed Scott Douglas who went over unopposed. Fieldsend adding his fourth conversion to wrap it up.