Wootton Bassett crashed out of the Dorset and Wilts Vase on Saturday when they went down to a surprise 8-5 defeat to Weymouth in a rousing quarter-final clash.

A league below their Southern Counties visitors, in Dorset and Wilts Division One South, the home side started well with a strong wind behind them, going 3-0 up after an early penalty.

Excellent defence from Bassett kept any Weymouth attacks and Bassett turned round for the second half with the wind advantage. They were soon further behind however when Weymouth snatched an interception and drove deep into the Bassett half.

Winger Ben Bailey tackled the Weymouth hooker on the line, but was handed a yellow card for killing the ball. From the resulting penalty Weymouth made use of the one- man overlap, scoring an unconverted try.

Five minutes later, though, and Bassett's disadvantage grew when second row Colin Mountford joined Bailey in the sin bin after a late tackle.

With two players off the field, Bassett could find no way into the game but once they returned, the visitors started to threaten through their stronger back line.

A well worked move out wide eventually saw winger Aaron Lightbody cross over to the left of the posts to cut the deficit to just three points.

Bassett finished the stronger of the two sides but Weymouth's defence held firm and the south coast side eventually won through to face Swindon in the semi-finals.

l WOOTTON Bassett's first reserves maintained their perfect record in the Bath and District Combination 2nd XV Merit Table with a 39-5 win over Avonvale.

Taff Lock scored two tries, Darren Lewis, Neil Smith and Andy Edge also crossing. Rhys Harries added four conversions and two penalties.

l Bassett are through to the final of the Dorset and Wilts Under 17 Cup after a 12-5 win over North Dorset.