The fact that Devizes fielded three teams on Saturday is a reflection of a growing strength in depth in the club produced by players coming through from a very successful Junior section as well as some older players coming out of semi retirement.

In all three teams there was a judicious mix of youth and experience.Both the Ist and 2nd XVs won their games whilst the 3rd were narrowly beaten.

In front of an appreciative audience Devizes 2nd XV gained a well deserved victory over Chippenham 3rd XV by 52 points to nil.

An experienced pack led by skipper, Chris Maundrell, outplayed the Chippenham XV in most phases of the game.

Tim Alchin and Jason Giddings were towers of strength in the lineouts and the front row of Toby Randall, James Plank and Charlie Rudler did not budge in the scrums.

At each breakdown it was invariably Devizes players who were first on the scene with Maundrell, Joe McClean and Ioan Beddoe clearing the ball out swiftly to provide opportunities for an enterprising threequarter line.

Consistent crash tackling by forwards and backs alike reduced any ambitions Chippenham might have had in attack. As the game wore on it became one way traffic for Devizes.

Playing into the wind Devizes might well have scored early on when scrum half, Chris Turner,who had an excellent game, used his pace to break from a ruck and put fly half Mike Bates in the clear.

However, a poor pass was dropped and the initiative halted.

Chippenham might well have scored when they intercepted a Devizes pass and almost reached the tryline.

After the first IO minutes during which Devizes conceded several penalties allowing Chippenham to operate in Devizes territory the home team began to excercise greater control over the game.

Gaining possession in midfield flanker, Joe McClean, latched onto a pass, burst through the Chippenham defence to score under the posts.

Bates added the points for a 7-0 lead. In spite of losing Giddings for IO minutes in the sinbin Devizes began to spend longer in the Chippenham half forcing several penalties and threatening the tryline with forward charges or flowing threequarter moves but it wasn't until late in the half that Devizes extended their lead with Alchin being driven over the line to score.

After the break Devizes regular possession and confident handling began to open up the Chippenham defence.

Opportunist McClean,using pace and agility, again split the Chippenham defence to score under the posts giving Bates a simple conversion and a 19 points lead.

Devizes scored at regular intervals from slick expansive threequarter moves as Chippenham weakened.

A further 5 tries were scored including 2 by McClean and one by centre, Nick Munien, who picked up a loose ball and charged through several defenders to touchdown.

Left winger Chris Holloran, was brought into the picture by some quick deliveries from Bates giving him space to go over twice in the corner. Bates converted 6 of the eight tries in what was a comprehensive thrashing of local rivals Chippenham.