YOUTH: THE Bristol Combination Cup game started well for Chippenham who had plenty of possession, gaining territorial advantage. They made many penetrating, probing runs at the Clifton line but were met with strong defence and were stopped short.

From a line-out, fly-half Matt Johnson ran at his opposite number, sold him a dummy and went over the line to score the opening try. The conversion was kicked by Tom Davies.

Clifton then got back into the game, and they too, made some strong runs at the home side. Some poor talking by Chippenham allowed Clifton in and they scored under the posts making it 7-5 to Chippenham.

The game was stopped shortly afterwards when Chippenham's Ollie Harris suffered a serious injury after a over-zealous tackle by the Clifton player. Harris was taken to hospital where he was treated for a neck injury

When the game restarted, Chippenham gained some good possession to allow Luke Flower to sprint from 50 metres out, and out-pace the waiting Clifton defence. This was quickly followed by another two tries from Flower.

Tempers started to rise as the game progressed and Clifton had two players sent off for violent play.

In the dying minutes of the game, Liam Baker scored in the corner and Clifton hit back with a try just before the referee blew the final whistle.

Cleve U15 7 Chippenham U15 8

Chippenham started their defence of the Bristol Combination Cup with a hard fought away win at Cleve, last year's runners-up.

It was a game of contrasting styles with the big Cleve pack keeping the ball in close whilst Chippenham worked hard to move the ball wide on the small pitch.

Following early forward pressure from Cleve, Chippenham broke out quickly and were only denied a try by knocking on over the try-line.

The visitors built through greater possession and again, following a period of pressure, scrum-half Danny East dived over the line to open the scoring for the visitors. The conversion was missed but Chippenham went into the half-time break with a 0-5 lead.

The second half continued in the same manner and, although both teams tried hard, the respective defences held out until ten minutes from the end of the game. Following a penalty, Chippenham's skipper Tom Boreham stepped up to convert, thus extending their lead to 0-8.

Cleve responded with an intense period of pressure which finally paid off. Cleve scored by the posts and added the conversion with gave a close 7-8 scoreline.

This left a very nervy last two minutes for Chippenham. But hold on they did, despite Cleve missing a penalty opportunity from 40 metres out.

Chippenham now travel to either Avon or Weston Hornets in the quarter finals which are scheduled for November 11.