AWFUL playing conditions didn’t deter Marlborough in their quest to climb the South West One (East) table as dark horse club Chippenham was downed 22-8 at the Common.

Heavy rain, gale force winds and a very sodden pitch meant playing conditions were far from ideal.

But Marlborough adapted well to conditions and took great encouragement from their latest win given teenagers Edi Moku, Kuki Daunakamakma and Ben Wilmot all played a key part.

Forwards coach Fa’ao Filise was a proud man after full time too as work in training paid off with Marlborough dominating the scrum throughout the game’s 80 minutes.

Marlborough played up the slope with the wind behind their backs in the first half – and some excellent tactical kicking by Daniel Jones, Mac Lewis and Jake Kane helped apply early pressure onto Chippenham’s back row.

Eventually, the hosts broke through as skipper Insosi Legekoro touched down in the corner, though the conversion was missed.

Try as they might, Chippenham couldn’t break down the hosts’ determined defensive set-up. And Marlborough’s lead was soon doubled when Mac Lewis’ direct run sucked in Chippenham’s defence before Ovini Tuitoga added a second try.

Chippenham’s successful penalty kick cut Marlborough’s lead to seven. But it was soon extended to 12 when Tuitoga touched down for his second try.

Chippenham fought back with an unconverted try of their own before half time with the scores at 15-8.

Conditions went from bad to worse in the second half as the pitch cut up badly, something that hurt Marlborough’s ability in the scrum.

Inevitably, handling errors from both sides increased as gripping the ball became harder.

There was only one score in the second half, and it came courtesy of Ovini Tuitoga, who registered a second hat-trick in consecutive weeks.

His excellent try under the posts was converted by Daniel Jones.

Marlborough’s win kept them fifth in the league table, though they are too far away from second placed Royal Wootton Bassett to launch a genuine play-off charge.

The first team will enjoy a weekend off this week before returning to action against Windsor the following week.