Wootton Bassett kicked off their Southern Counties South campaign with a deserved but never easy 22-10 victory over north Wiltshire rivals Corsham.

Corsham took an early lead with a penalty from Haydn Brockhurst for an offside offence in Bassett's backs.

But the home side responded, taking the lead with an unconverted try by winger Matt McKee, after gathering a chip from centre Sean Millwaters.

The first half broke out into a couple of brawls, Bassett losing skipper Ian 'Tiny' McLellan with a bad cut to the bridge of the nose in one scuffle.

Despite this the Bassett forwards stepped up a gear and fly-half Neil James added an unconverted try after a series of quick ruck balls.

Just before the interval, Bassett scored another try, again from giant winger Matt McKee, this time converted by James for a 22-3 lead at the break.

McKee scored again to complete his hat-trick after a searching kick over the Corsham defence from replacement prop Lee Stubbs. The bounce fell kindly and McKee charged in to the delight of a sizeable home crowd.

Corsham never surrendered and rallied midway through the second half.

It was no surprise when they reduced the deficit with a try from full-back Phil Kernan, after a clever cross-kick from fly-half Brockhurst, who also converted.