TROWBRIDGE. 68 WITNEY 24

There was much expectation from the Trowbridge faithful as they gathered for this Vice Presidents day at Doric Park to host Witney, who had run the Wiltshire outfit close in the return fixture at Hailey Road earlier in the season. Two wins out of three or a victory over Chippenham next week would be sufficient for them to lift the championship when the fixtures are complete on April 11th, when they play their final match at home to North Dorset.

The match did not start as they hoped as Witney attacked at the start and centre Oliver Toner breached the Trowbridge defence with a try in the first 5 minutes. Fly half Oliver Dawkins added the extras with the conversion. At that time their No 8 Josh Rihan left the field with a leg injury and was unable to return to action. It took the hosts some time to settle but as they levelled the scores in the 12th minute when flanker Kyle Oakley went over for their first try - Tom Weaver converted. Trowbridge continued to atrack and play was mainly in the Witney’s half, but the visitors kept the hosts out until flanker Ben Mallett broke the centre on the half hour to touch down. This score opened the floodgates before the interval as further tries came from No. 8 Kacey Pike, a second Mallett try and a try from skipper Ethan Hutt, who had move from the wing to deputising for the rested Sam Harrison. His try came after he had supported a break down the wing by Oakley Milton and Trowbridge had gained a bonus point for scoring four tries. Tom Weaver maintained his perfect kicking record with four more conversions. Mallett scored a second try before the interval when the score was 35-7.

Soon after the restart after Trowbridge resumed the pressure and left wing Alex Christopher scored with Weaver converted, but Witney flanker Gareth Jenkins went over to reduce the deficit with an unconverted try after 52 minutes. This coincided with a period when the hosts did not have complete control and Trowbridge full back Alex Kilbane was forced to concede a yellow card, but this did not seriously affect the course of the game and on his return to the field second row Olly Bilton ran in a try from the ten metre line. Within a minute Hutt had kept the scorers busy with a second try and towards the close Witney’s second row Finley Ayris scored two tries to earn the visitors a bonus point. Dawkins converting one of these tries but there was still time for Mallett to complete a hat trick of tries. Weaver completed his eighth conversion and young winger Finley Morris completed the scoring with what is believed to be his first try for this team as the match drew to a close.

A good performance by a team missing a couple of players in a match against a team who could have been quite a threat. As the match drew to a close the news came through that rivals Chippenham were losing at Thornbury, and this was soon confirmed. It became clear that the Doric Park side had reached a point where they could not be caught in the league, so celebrations began. Third placed Cleve also lost at Newbury Blues, and though they were heavily beaten at Devizes the Trowbridge 2nd team gained a valuable loser’s point for scoring four tries, helping their fight against relegation as Chippenham 2nds were the only other side to make any headway.