CORSHAM claimed their first win of the season in Southern Counties South with a 26-10 success at home to Walcot.

The Lacock Road outfit have endured a tough start to the campaign following five losses on the bounce, and another tough day looked on the cards against Walcot as they fell 10-0 behind.

However, the hosts showed good character to battle back for a bonus-point win as they ran in four unanswered tries to move themselves off the bottom.

Elsewhere, Devizes moved up to second in the table following a gritty 10-5 win over fellow title challengers Frome.

The Chivers Ground outfit had not beaten their opponents in their last three meeting, however, a low-scoring game in awful weather conditions put paid to that run of defeats.

Devizes welcomed back Josh Lewis into their playing squad after a three-year absence, but struggled to make home advantage count early on as the wet weather meant handling errors were unusually high on both sides of the ball.

Fly-half Gus O’Connor was having some success with a couple of line breaks and well-placed kicks though, and it was he who added the first points of the game after half an hour – a simple penalty conversion put the hosts 3-0 up.

From the restart, Devizes went through the phases just outside of their own 22-yard line before the ball squirmed out of the ruck and into the hands of former Devizes Colt Alistair Frost.

The Frome winger picked up the loose ball and dived over in the corner to put the visitors 5-3 ahead at the break.

Devizes came out after the break with real purpose and looked to be building momentum out wide before Lewis Dodds was tackled high with the try-line not far ahead.

Dodds unfortunately suffered a nasty leg injury in the process that required a lengthy wait for an ambulance.

Once the game restarted, Devizes were awarded a penalty try to make it 10-5 and the offending Frome player was shown a red card.

The home side controlled the majority of the game from then on and, despite a couple of missed penalties that would have settled the game in their favour and a barrage of late pressure from the visitors, Devizes held out for a crucial four points.

The win takes Devizes to within three points of leaders Grove, who have a perfect record from their half-a-dozen games.