Strong Witney side dominate Trowbridge’s first visit

The first meeting between the clubs at Witney’s ground at Hailey on Saturday produced Trowbridge’s heaviest defeat of the season and confirmed the improvement in the Oxfordshire ‘s side form since Trowbridge’s narrow win at Doric Park in November. They had not been beaten in 2015 and their impressive run has included wins against Chippenham and Towcestrians, the top two sides in the league.

Late withdrawals meant that Trowbridge were without James Davies and Alan Chadwick and they played the first half against a strong wind. The Witney pack were soon dominating proceedings and they had a clear plan to score as many points in the first half before Trowbridge had the elements in their favour in the second half. An early penalty was followed by a try disputed due to obstruction but there was no complaint as Witney scored 3 further tries before the break and 3 were converted. Trowbridge lost scrum half Matt Johnson to the sin bin during this period due to the persistent pressure and the play hardly moved beyond the Witney 10 metre line due partly to the weather conditions. The team was also disrupted by several changes due to injuries which did not help but there were no real excuses as Witney were dominant. The half time score was 29-0.

Any hope that things would change in the second half when Trowbridge had the elements in their favour were soon dashed when Witney ran in three tries in the first 10 minutes. To their credit Trowbridge did rally in the latter stages applying some pressure on the Witney line. On one occasion Ashley Chalk broke through to within 10 metres on the Witney line but the home side scored two more tries, one with the last move of the match.

Trowbridge have a break from league action on Saturday before a challenging match at Doric Park against second placed Windsor on 21st March.