CHIPPENHAM swept aside a determined effort from Aylesbury at Allington Field as they strengthened their grip at the top of South Wes Division Two East.

The visitors, coming off the back of a confidence boosting win over Amersham and Chiltern, started well, scoring an early try following some strong driving runs by their forwards to stun the home crowd.

Their first mistake however proved to be the turning point of the game when a dropped ball in midfield was pounced on by centre Rupert Crockett, who hacked through and won the race to touch down and level the scores.

Aylesbury hit back with a penalty but from then on it was one-way traffic as Chippenham's expansive game tore through the Aylesbury defence.

First half tries were added by Kenny Brown, Jocelyn Barnes (2), Dan Reynolds and Scott Sherratt, with Reynolds adding a further two conversions to give the home side an unassailable 39-8 lead at the break.

Half-time gave Aylesbury the chance to regroup and the opening minutes saw them start as they had done the first half. Centering around a strong pick and drive game among their forwards they put Chippenham on the back foot by scoring a second try.

While this was clearly their game plan and effective too against the lighter Chippenham pack, they lacked the fitness to sustain the effort and as their mistake levels rose so Chippenham regained their stranglehold.

A well struck penalty by Reynolds gave Chippenham the chance to regain their composure. Soon after another solo try by winger Barnes saw him complete his hat-trick in some style and a well executed threequarter move allowed full back Grant Trewartha to show his pace in adding to the score, Reynolds converting both.

The final score on the stroke of full time saw replacement centre Tom Crockett, back after nursing a knee injury, pick up a wild pass from Barnes to outpace the cover defence to score in the corner.

This weekend Chippenham take a break from league rugby with a short trip to Devizes for an interesting friendly with their local rivals.