Chippenham 23 Abbey 6

IN the first of two successive home games against the Reading-based Abbey side, Chippenham moved into the fourth round of the NPI Intermediate Cup with a comfortable win.

The game saw the return from injury of fly-half Trevor Lloyd and Royston Davies replaced a suspended John Todd at second row in an otherwise unchanged side from that defeated at Aylesbury. With the pitch playing well after the recent weather Chippenham took this opportunity to gain a significant psychological advantage going into this week's league encounter.

Chippenham started brightly with a well worked move releasing winger, Darren McMillan, who showed his undoubted pace to score in the corner. This early advantage was soon overturned though as Abbey hit back with two penalties to go into the lead midway through the half.

With Chippenham's forwards working well, though, the home side started to pressurise the Abbey try line.

Shortly before half-time this paid dividends as hooker Paul Baker took an inside pass from Martin Walsh to score. With the try going unconverted and Chippenham went into the break with a slender 10-6 lead.

With the loss of one of the Abbey props to injury shortly after half-time, Chippenham moved quickly to kill the game off. With a series of five metre scrums close to the Abbey line Chippenham proved they now had superior forward strength.

First Number 8 Kenny Brown controlled the ball at the back of the scrum to push over for an unconverted try.

Minutes later a blindside back row move from another five metre scrum allowed winger Gary Squires to take the scoring pass and stretch the home side's lead to 20-6.

Abbey reorganised and came back into the game to give Chippenham a taste of what may be in store for them this weekend with a good twenty minutes.

Chippenham's defensive line remained firm though and with Trevor Lloyd adding a penalty shortly before the final whistle kept their lead intact.

This weekend Abbey return to Allington Field and it remains to be seen whether or not their line up will stay the same or if Chippenham will face a different test from a side who went down far easier than current form and past reputation suggest. Kick off 2.30 pm.

Chippenham 'A' 20 Keynsham 3rds 8

Chippenham's second string made it five wins out of five in their Bristol Combination Merit Table clash at home to Keynsham.

A rather disappointing first half saw Chippenham turn round 3-0 down but it was a different team that started the second half with Chippenham scoring straight from the kick off through winger Justin Knight. Chippenham kept up the pace for the next 20 minutes, against the South West Division 1 club, with their Number 8 Neil Watkins scoring twice. Winger Justin Knight then collected his second of the day as he completed the home sides scoring by again rounding the visitors defence. Keynsham were rewarded with a consolation try

Chippenham 'B' 20 Keynsham 4ths 17

Chippenham were forced to work hard extremely hard to overcome a strong Keynsham side, but ended up deserved winners.

Keynsham started in determined fashion and used their large, well drilled forwards to good effect. Chippenham though mounted a solid rearguard action

but, after appearing to have weathered the visitors' initial onslaught, conceded a sloppy try to give an early advantage to Keynsham.

This advantage was soon wrestled back though as fly-half, Ceri Morris, used the effect of the bright sunlight to test the Keynsham full back with a series of high balls which he failed to gather. Centre, Mike Griffin, pounced on one such error to hack the ball over the line but the try was disallowed.

However, pressure from Chippenham forced the visitors into conceding a series of penalties, which enabled skipper Alun Jones to reduce the deficit before winger Mark Otridge went over in the corner to score Chippenham's first try. Steve Thompsett then crashed over for a try on the stroke of half time.

Keynsham rallied strongly in the second half and after again conceding an early try, Chippenham struggled to keep the visitors at bay.

However Keynsham were soon under a spell of heavy pressure. Finally full back, Ian Bannister, broke through to score a try.

With Alun Jones adding the conversion, Chippenham held their nerve in the final few minutes to seal a hard earned victory.

Bath U14's 22 Chippenham U14's 29

Because the pitches at Chippenham were deemed unfit to play, the fixture was reversed to be played at Bath.

Chippenham shot out of the blocks and the pack drove over to open the scoring with an unconverted try. Bath woke up and from this moment the small crowd witnessed a quite enthralling and evenly contested match.

Bath enjoyed a sustained period of pressure and went over for a well deserved unconverted try. Soon after Chippenham's Kieran Marshall crashed over the line to score with Chris Hunt adding the conversion. Bath replied just before halftime.

After the restart Bath scored again but from the kick-off Chippenham turned the pressure on Bath. Sam Alford touch ed down to regain the lead and Chris Hunt landed a well judged and difficult kick into the wind.

Chippenham extended their lead minutes later when Kieran Marshall exploded over the line to score. Bath came back at Chippenham once again with their scrum half managing to dive in under the posts for a converted try.

With Chippenham's lead reduced to two points and five minutes remaining they picked up the sword once again and Number 8, Ryan Tigwell sprinted thirty metres to dive for the corner in a decisive score.

Weston Super Mare 2nds XV 17 Devizes 17

Devizes can take great heart from the way they played against a strong Weston side on their home ground.

Both teams exchanged missed penalties before a rare Devizes error allowed Weston to score and lead 5-0 at half time. Weston then scored a further two tries through an interception and a missed tackle. Towards the end Devizes raised their game, camped on the Weston line to be awarded a well deserved penalty try.

Devizes 2nd XV 5 Whitehall 2nd XV 20

Whitehall's late arrival appeared to unsettle a Devizes team already changed through 1st XV selection. Although Devizes matched Whitehall up front they lost the game largely because of weak tackling and the disruption caused by four injuries.

Nevetheless Matthew Hamblin, a young second row, had a promising game whilst the evergreen Tim Kamei was his usual effervescent self. Misdirected kicks allowed Whitehall's runners to counterattack and score some good tries.

Devizes never recovered from being 13 points down at half time even though Chris Combe scored a consolation try

Devizes 3rd XV 3 v Malmesbury 7

Undeterred by the fact that Malmesbury had beaten Chippenham 3rd XV a week earlier Devizes competed vigorously in all phases of the game and held territorial advantage for long periods.

The Devizes pack, well led by Craig Frazer, did not let Malmesbury's forwards get into any sort of rhythm and skipper Bill Gould's crunching tackles constantly disrupted the Malmesbury threequarter line. Devizes took the lead with a penalty kick by James Booth.

Rather than simply rely on their forward superiority Devizes preferred to run the ball whenever possible. this certainly added to the enjoyment of the game for everyone although potential points were possibly scarificed.

Devizes held this the 3-0 lead until well into the second half only for Malmesbury to capitalise on the one chance they had in the whole.

A Devizes miskick was picked up for Malmesbury to score between the posts to take a winning 7-3 lead against the run of play.