Supermarine chose a dreary, drizzle sodden day to avenge their defeat earlier in the season and relieve league newcomers Malmesbury of their unbeaten record.

Fielding a much stronger pack than in their last meeting, they secured much more line-out ball and several strikes against the head in set scrums. The Supermarine backs also handled the damp ball better, and their victory was deserved but not easy to achieve, and players and damp spectators alike witnessed an exciting game.

At the front of the lineout, Ali Roussel was more than a match for Tom Neal, though Neal did field a lot of loose ball. Paul Ferris and David Manktelow were fairly evenly matched jumping in the middle, While Huw Jones defended the back of Malmesburys line with his usual energy.

The match was 35 minutes old before the first points came from Mark Sheppard for the visitors after a five metre scrum. Sheppard failed to convert his own try, and the Malmesbury side came back almost immediately with a try from number eight Huw Jones, also unconverted.

Sheppard replied with a second, which he converted, and Jones covered this with a try under the posts which was converted by David Worker.

With the half-time score at 12-all, the game became an end to end duel in which Supermarine were more adept at defending their line. Malmesbury came very close to scoring on several occasions but were repulsed.

Meanwhile, both Marv Woodhouse and Sheppard found gaps in the Malmesbury defence close to the right touch line. Though not converted, the 10 points that these tries added proved sufficient for the visitors to win the game.

Malmesbury, having won 13 out of 14 matches so far in their first league campaign, are looking to attract new players for the remainder of this season and build towards next season.

Player/coach Huw Jones has more than ten years playing experience with Cambridge University and first division clubs on both sides of the Severn Bridge.

His coaching philosophy is based on the premise that players want to learn something new or improve a skill everytime they put on their boots - whether its on the training pitch or in a game on Saturday afternoon.

Training is at the Worthies at 7pm on Wednesday evenings.