Calne 42, Bradford on Avon 10

FLU-RIDDEN Bradford lasted 40 minutes on Saturday before Calne put them to bed with a dose of clinical finishing.

The score was 10-10 at half-time, but the visitors went from hot to cold after the break as Calne ran in five more tries.

With coach Dave George on holiday in Belgium, Bradford skipper Chris Powell was left to cobble together a fully-functioning squad for this Wiltshire derby.

Powell himself was carrying an injury which could keep him out for six weeks, but his troublesome knee was the least of the captain's problems prior to kick-off.

Tom Davidson, Paul Gerrish and Rhys Davies called off late on Saturday morning with flu, while Jim Mawer was not fit to play after suffering concussion in the win over Wootton Bassett 2nds last week.

It came as a huge surprise to everyone therefore when the visitors, aided by a strong wind at their backs, matched their high-flying hosts in the opening period.

James Lynch converted a try by scrum half James Foley to give Calne a 7-0 lead.

Jason Kearney touched down for Bradford and Jack Shepherd kicked the extras to level the scores at 7-7.

Lynch and Joe Thompson traded penalties before the referee blew for half-time with the scores tied at 10-10.

An injury to Shepherd after the interval meant Bradford, with no substitutes, had to play the remainder of the game with 14 men.

Calne, with the wind behind them now, were in no mood to sympathise and they played some intelligent rugby to pin Bradford in their own half.

Foley completed a hat-trick of tries and Lynch crossed the whitewash twice, converting his own score on both occasions.

Prop Matt Arnold also crashed over for home side to keep Calne's promotion push on track.

Captain Alan Wicks described Saturday's performance as "the best of the season so far," but Bradford skipper Powell was far from happy.

Powell said: "I thought we competed very well in the first half despite all the injury problems.

"Once we went down to 14 men it became very tough. Calne pinned us back into our own 22 and piled on the pressure. We just caved in after that"