Royal Wootton Bassett recorded another bonus point victory after a dominant first-half display in their 31-8 win over Winscombe.

The visitor’s forwards put early pressure on the Bassett scrum and a fast clearance in the fifth minute saw Bassett offend at the breakdown. The Winscombe centre struck the penalty, and the visitors took a surprise 3-0 lead.

Bassett hit back almost immediately when Charlie Hix made a break feeding Henry Toomer who evaded two defenders before being caught near the line. He was able to make the offload to Troy Cusack who crashed over for Bassett to lead 5-3.

Although Winscombe were carrying the ball well and were solid at the scrummage, Bassett had the clear advantage at the lineout and were using their pace to run Winscombe around.

In the fifteenth minute, the referee brought the play back for a penalty and Bassett’s young scrum-half John Fruci-Jewell spotted the opportunity and took the quick tap and dived over for the score.

Winscombe now went on the attack, but the ball was fumbled and spun loose. Scott Parry was on hand and raced out of his own half with the ball. Three defenders appeared to have shut the move down, but excellent football skills saw the ball deftly punted forward for Toomer to score under the posts.

Shortly after Bassett had a close-range lineout from which Joe Pettit was able to feed Parry who raced around the front of the lineout to score the bonus point try. Cusack converted to end a scintillating eight-minute spell that had just about put the game out of reach of the Somerset side.

The next fifteen minutes of the half were flat with Winscombe having plenty of possession but unable to break the mean Bassett defence. Bassett led 26-7 at the interval.

Winscombe started the second half brightly, edging both the possession and territory statistics in the opening 15 minutes. They were then rewarded when an error in the Bassett backline saw a score in the corner from their quick-thinking second row.

Bassett then went on the offensive and camped near the Winscombe line. From a surge at the scrum, a long pass set Ethan Stock in to score.

Bassett were ultimately comfortable winners against a side second from bottom of the table. Bassett next travel the short distance into Swindon for the second league derby of the season and they will need to be back to their best.