THERE were few shocks as Chippenham lifted the Alf Dunster Trophy with a comfortable win over their Southern Counties South neighbours on Saturday.
With neither side at full strength, the result was not entirely a foregone conclusion, but the undefeated South West Division Two East league leaders triumphed thanks to a series of unforced errors by the home side.
Devizes struggled to come to terms with the handling skills and pace of the Chippenham line-up and went behind when the visitors converted a penalty after the hosts had failed to clear a kick that fell just short of the posts.
Chippenham doubled their lead with another penalty after Devizes infringed again at a ruck, but the home side won good line-out ball and gave little away in the scrums to go in just six points behind at the interval.
Tim Alchin was sin-binned for the hosts in the first period, while Richard Slater came close to notching Devizes' first points of the afternoon with a penalty from 40 yards.
Slater reduced the deficit to three points with a penalty after Chippenham were penalised for a line-out infringement, but the home side conceded a soft try moments later when a stray pass from scrum half Tom Collins allowed the Chippenham winger to score under the posts.
The visitors went further in front with another converted try after a long kick upfield and things got worse for Devizes when Chris Maundrell was sin-binned for an off-the-ball incident.
Skipper James Gaiger rallied the Saddlebacks and they responded with a try in the corner by Mike McCrum. Slater duly converted to reduce the arrears to ten points, but Chippenham scored late on to put the outcome beyond doubt.
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