Melksham travelled to local rivals Chippenham on Saturday level on points but with a couple of regular first team players missing were expecting a tough game.

Melksham put early pressure on the Chippenham line but the CATS hooker was sin-binned for stamping which wasted a good scoring oppurtunity.

The Chippenham fly half then slotted his first penalty shortly after when the CATS were penalised for holding on.

Following a free kick for a crooked feed in the scrum by the CATS scrum half the Chippenham srum half, alert to a gap, forced his way over.

Melksham replied with their first points with a penalty from full back Ponsford but Chippenham came back with a well taken try from their full back, converted by their 10.

Ponsford slotted his second penalty to go in at half time with the game finely balanced at 15 to 6.

The second half saw the Melksham men up the pace with some good periods of play going through several phases of quick controlled rugby.

Following a penalty from the Chippenham 10 the Melksham side put together a good attack with Dudridge bursting through to find Dave Dyke in support who neatly sidestepped the full back to score under the posts.

With the conversion succesful the game was nicely poised at 25 - 13 with the Melksham outfit now looking the better side.

Despite the strong finish though the Chippenham side held on to take the points and move 2 clear of the Melksham club.

A slow start and conceding too many penalties cost the tyre men the chance of a win.