SWNDON College had cried off the first XV game on Saturday morning so Devizes were left with only one home game.

It opened at a furious pace with both teams testing defences. Devizes struggled to compete with Cleve in the lineouts and fly half Alex Bennett had to draw on his experience and trusty boot to keep Cleve at bay.

Fortunately, Devizes exerted more authority in the scrums where prop , Peter Balls, was very influential.

Scrum half, Dave O'Sullivan constantly probed for openings, but it was Fijiian Manu, playing at centre, who made the first significant break and would surely have scored with better support.

Ironically it was Cleve who went seven points ahead when they won a lineout in the Devizes half and spun the ball wide to outmanoeuvre a stranded Devizes defence.

Spirits were raised when Darren Burbidge made a clean break in the centre leading to a penalty which Alex Bennett kicked to pull back 3 points.

Then Bennett prised open the Cleve defence with a superb dummy scissors move, offloading to skipper and fullback, Andy Webb.

He raced into the Cleve 22 before being stopped. Cynically cleve conceded another penalty which Bennett kicked to bring Devizes within a pointat half time.

With the wind and sun at their backs it was expected that Devizes would dominate territory. But erratic possession and frequent turnovers added to Devizes' problems.

But they finally went ahead when Mike McCrum touched down as the pack drove over the Cleve line from close in.

Cleve soon restored the lead with a penalty kick and opportunist try and finished any resistance off when Devizes yet again, failed to cover a swift handling move started by Cleve in their own 22.

Cleve's winger outpaced several defenders in an electric run for the line to establish a clear lead, which they held to the final whistle.

Ray Taylor