KIERAN Atkin’s late try earned Chippenham a third win in South West One East this season as they edged to a 29-24 success at home to Oxford Harlequins.

The game did not start well for the hosts as Connor Beer was shown an early yellow card for a high and Quins exploited the man advantage to score a converted try.

Chippenham were quick to react and Ed Hendy crashed through the defence before finding Ben Hathaway to score, with Al Mackenzie converting.

Despite Beer’s return to the pitch, Chippenham conceded a second converted try under the posts to fall behind again.

The hosts were able to cut the gap to 14-12 at half-time as Charlie Palmer finished off a lovely team try, although MacKenzie’s kick to level the scores went wide.

Chippenham upped their intensity in the second half and captain Matt Dickens was rewarded with a try after the home side stole the ball from a Quins lineout.

They then moved further clear when Jacob Unwin galloped up the pitch before finding Hathaway to score his second try of the match and secure the bonus point, with Mackenzie’s conversion pushing Chippenham 24-14 in front.

However, the hosts’ momentum then began to stall as a penalty and a converted try from Quins suddenly brought them back level on the scoreboard.

As both sides pushed forward, the result would be decided from the final play of the match as a big onslaught from Chippenham resulted in Atkin capitalising on an overlap to race over the tryline and snatch the victory.

Elsewhere, Royal Wootton Bassett moved up to second in the table after claiming an eighth win from nine games this season in a 24-21 success at home to Beaconsfield.

Bassett were able to leapfrog county rivals Marlborough, who drop to third after a narrow 26-24 defeat at home to Old Centralians.

The visitors made a fast start and scored the first points of the day inside two minutes, going over the tryline following a lineout.

Marlborough hit back with their opening try after a quarter-of-an-hour as Mitieli Vulikijapani surged through and offloaded to Avenai Cakaunitavuki to score.

The hosts then got their noses in front when a lineout drive rumbled over the line for their second try, with the wind again proving a problem for Tom West’s kick.

With only a couple of minutes of the half remaining, Henry Webster was sin-binned for a high tackle and it cost Marlborough dearly as another Centralians converted try saw them lead 14-10 at the break.

The hosts started the second half quickly and took the lead when the kick-off was spilled by Centralians and Joe Visei was on hand to collect and storm to the line, converted by Jake Williams.

Again the game ebbed and flowed and a third Centralians try put them 19-17 in front, but with 10 minutes to go, Marlborough penned their visitors back and Vulikijapani’s quick offload sent Ben Fulton under the posts as Williams again converted.

Three points up with two minutes to play, the contest suddenly got away from Marlborough as a Centralians try against the run of play put the teams on level terms before a brilliant conversion from 30m snatched the victory.