MARLBOROUGH ran in 13 tries as they hammered Wiltshire rivals Salisbury by 81-5 on The Common in Regional Two South Central last weekend.

The north Wiltshire outfit were four tries to one up at the break in spite of a first 20 minutes which manager Dave Pittams was less than satisfied with, but the hosts went on to obliterate Salisbury and move top of the league thanks to a peerless second-half display.

It was Salisbury who bagged the first points of the game, scoring an unconverted try from a driving maul within three minutes.

Marlborough’s start was made worse when Acardia Seruvatu received a yellow and missed the next 10 minutes in the sin bin.

But eventually, the home side pulled their finger out and found an equalising score. Joe Pittams touched down to make it 5-5 before Will Grant sent the conversion wide.

Marlborough’s first try of the afternoon seemed to settle them down, and from there on the scoring only increased.

Before half-time, Oscar Tamani, Ollie Spanswick, and Weir Filikitonga all crashed over for converted tries to move the score onto 26-5 at the break.

After the awkward first 15 minutes was addressed during the half-time team talk, Marlborough came out all guns blazing and scored three tries in a little over 10 minutes.

James Marshall gathered a kick to score a converted try before Insosi Laqekoro dotted down for another five points. Straight from the latest kick-off, Ben Fulton ultimately crossed for his team’s seventh score of the day.

Filikitonga nabbed his second try in the 55th minute following a line-up, and Pittams followed suit five minutes later.

Simon Pilkington popped his name on the scoresheet after crossing in the corner, and before long Tamani had also bagged a brace after a try out wide.

Once Callum Hunt had crossed for his only try of the game, Seruvatu scooped a hat-trick to round off the day’s scoring at 81.

Elsewhere in Regional Two South Central, Devizes edged out Swindon 19-15 on home soil.

In Regional One South Central, Royal Wootton Bassett were hammered 63-7 by Wimbledon in Wiltshire.

In Regional Two Severn, Trowbridge lost 38-22 at home to Keynsham.