EDF Energy Vase 2nd round

Chippenham's EDF Vase campaign ended as soon as it began after being beaten on Saturday.

Havant were new territority to the visitors but despite the final scoreline, Chippenham did not disgrace themselves. Andy Wood playing at loose-head prop made his first team debut for Chippenham.

For coach, Rob Alford, the result was not unexpected. He said: The final score was a fair result on the game as a whole. I thought for the first 30 minutes we played well but we gave away two soft tries just before half-time which gave them a 17-0 lead at the break, so we were always going to be playing catch-up.'' Chippenham started well and managed to match the home side on all fronts.

But the two tries and a penalty scored after the half hour, saw Havant enjoy a comfortable lead at half-time.

For Chippenham, the team talk during the break centered on keeping their shape and momentum and not to let the fact that they were playing a National Three side take over.

But for all the talk at half-time, Havant scored a third try within minutes of the restart to stretch the lead to 22-0 and virtually put the game out of Chippenham's reach.

Chippenham fougt back and scored two tries from scrum-half Tom Collins and skipper James Gaiger.

Alford said afterwards: The final scoreline of 27-10 probably flattered Havant because, overall, it was a good effort from the boys.

I thought Rich Taylor at fly-half had another great game. He came back from Oxford University because we were struggling in certain areas. It is easy to see why he was awarded the club's young clubman of the year.'' He added: I also thought Matt Whitehead, also back from university, had a good game.

We got more out of today's game than we have out of the last five matches. The boys can take a lot of credit from this game and they can learn a lot. When they had to, they dug deep.''