A Chippenham pack alrerady a bit light on up front was further hindered when a clash in the warm up meant number eight Hamish Morton had to see out the entire match with a severe cut to his head.

The visiting league leaders still started the stronger, but an interception led to a penalty on the quarter line and Salisbury's Liam Gilbert converted for the first points.

After just five minutes, Salisbury went further ahead ater some sloppy defence from Chippenham out wide allowed the Salisbury winger to go over in the corner and score the opening try.

Shortly after a long delay due to a serious ankle injury to a Salisbury player, Chippenham showed some good handling under pressure which allowed the centre Gary Champion to finally open the visitors' account.

Very soon after this score, Salisbury put out a long pass in their backs which was well-intercepted by Chippenham's winger Darren McMillan.

He ran in from his own 22 metre line to score under the Salisbury's posts. The conversion was added by Andy Williamson and Chippenham led narrowly 12-10.

The lead was short-lived as poor defence from Chippenham on the blind side of a scrum let Salisbury to get in behind their defence.

Much of the Chippenham back line was thus sucked in and Salisbury took advantage to spin the ball wide and score.

On the half-hour, Salisbury further extended their lead through another Gilbert penalty, but right on half-time, McMillan stood the Salisbury centre up and released Champion.

He danced his way through several waiting Salisbury tackles to score from 20m out. Williamson added the conversion and Chippenham trailed 20-19 at the break.

Gilbert converted one of two penalty chances soon after the restart, but after a further 15 minutes, Williamson narrowed Salisbury's lead as he too slotted over a penalty.

Salisbury were again penalised for killing the ball soon after and Williamson duly slotted the ball over from 35 metres out, close to the touchline. The lead reverted to Chippenham, 23-25.

A further two Williamson penalties tied up the points for Chippenham as they continued to pile on the pressure towards the end of the match.

Chippenham chairman Robbie Spiers said after the match: "This was a really hard fought victory which showed our stength in depth because of injuries and unavailabilities.

"This takes us one step closer to the title, and if we win our last six games, we will be champions."

Salisbury 2nd 26

Chippenham 2nd 13

This was only the second loss of the season for Chippenham's second team but the young squad started the stronger.

Fielding a team packed with players from the club's youth set-up, Chippenham started strongly and an early penalty from Chris Hunt gave the visitors an early three point lead.

Salisbury responded almost immediately with their own period of pressure and only stoic defence from Dave Newman and Chris Hunt prevented the home side from crossing the line and opening their scoring account.

But the pressure eventually told and Salisbury managed to convert four penalties and Chippenham one to make the half-time score 12-6 to the home side.

The second half saw Chippenham start the more positive and skipper Dave Williams burst through and dived over the line to score.

The try came after some good mauling from the Chippenham pack and Hunt stepped up and added the conversion to give Chippenham a very slender 12-13 lead.

Salisbury replied almost immediately with their first try and the added conversion gave them a 19-13 lead and in the dying seconds an intercept from Salisbury put the issue beyond doubt for the home side.

Chippenham captain Dave Williams said: "I am extremely proud of the way the lads performed and we must take that forward in preparation for the Dorset and Wilts Cup final next month."