Match report courtesy of Alistair Morrison

DEVIZES 7 TROWBRIDGE 33

The League reorganisation last season seems to have produced contrasting results to these two Wiltshire neighbours who met in the league for the first time at London Road since 2017 in Southern Counties South. Whilst Trowbridge have settled into the Severn League after a difficult start last season, Devizes are yet to win a match since their level transfer from the South league this season. But this local derby regularly goes against league form and both sides were aware that bragging rights were at stake. The teams were well matched early on and after the home side, eagerly encouraged by their partisan support went through the phases to threaten to score, the Trowbridge defence held firm, as did the home defence when Trowbridge came back as the match developed. The Devizes defence was breached after 25 minutes when Trowbridge wing Ajay Momi made the first really telling break from his wing to score under the posts, with Tom Weaver converting. Then captain Ethan Hutt scored just before the interval after a break through the middle and again Weaver converted. The score was 14-0 at the break while Trowbridge had played with the elements. This was well illustrated by the effectiveness of Weaver’s kicking who made more ground than his counterpart from Devizes.

The conditions made the second half uncertain and depended on the home side’s use in this period. It did not happen though as although Devizes had their moments later on , most of the play was deep in home territory as the match progressed. There were no further scores until late in the game and the introduction of second row Sam Hales, with the support of Gareth Davis, created a turnaround from the curious arrangements which allowed Devizes to dominate the line outs in the first half. Trowbridge forwards edged the scrums but both sides were too often off side and this resulted in penalties awarded mainly against the team under pressure. Just as it appeared that further scores were unlikely the Trowbridge forwards pressed and No 8 Max Day forced his way over. Soon after Hutt came through the middle to score his second try of the afternoon and Weaver converted both tries to take him past 100 points for the season.

Winger Ollie Shrubb who had recovered from a bad cut sustained last week, scored in the corner, but this time Weaver was unable to add the extras and Devizes captain Lewis Paget went over for the hosts in a late attack, with full back Cook converting to make the final score 33-7. There was a moment late on when the Devizes prop Kieran Hiscock was dismissed after an ugly confrontation between the forwards and after the player had been yellow carded. The referee ungraded the offence to a red card after a further intervention.

This result means that Trowbridge have gained 40 points since the start of the season, just one short of their total for the whole of last season. They move up to fourth place before Drybrook’s first ever visit to Doric Park next Saturday.

Head Coach Ali Lund said "This is our third bonus point victory in a row which has put us in a really competitive position in the league. What I really like about this side is that there is no resting on our laurels and the lads are pushing to put in stronger performances. We were disappointed with our 1st half performances today but the players identified a couple of weaknesses in the Devizes side which they were able to exploit in the 2nd half which has kept our momentum going".