2:51pm Thursday 8th February 2007
CALNE put flu-ridden Westbury to bed with a dose of clinical finishing in this derby clash at Leighton Green.
The hosts were missing several key players through illness but ruthless Calne were in no mood to nurse Westbury back to health.
To their credit, the White Horse men galloped for 60 minutes until they ran out of energy and ideas.
The visitors scored three tries and a penalty in the second half to give the scoreline a flattering edge, although Westbury will just be glad Calne didn't bring a kicker.
Full-back Chris Addannel was making his debut for Calne, and he missed four conversions in his first competitive game for six months.
Chris Vaughan had no such trouble when he kicked Westbury into a early 3-0 lead, but that was as good as it got for the home side.
Scrum half James Foley dived over in the corner as Calne took a two-point advantage into the interval.
Addannel kicked a penalty early in the second half before outside centre Neil Young crashed over from the middle of a rolling maul.
Player-coach Richard Kearney added a third with a typically powerful drive from 20 metres and Young sealed the win after an interception on the half-way line.
Calne skipper Alan Wicks was thrilled with his team's display.
He said: "I know Westbury were missing a few, but so were we.
"We matched them up front in the first half and, as they got tired, threw the ball to the backs to do the damage.
"I like to think I stepped up to the mark on Saturday because I carried the ball more than I have all season.
"I thought Alan Milton and Marcus Bilig also had excellent games."
Westbury coach Jon Parker believes his players were on the end of some harsh decisions from the referee.
"For one of their tries the official had to peel 30 bodies away to see if the ball had been grounded.
"If you don't see it, you can't give it. After that some of my players lost faith in him.
"It's turning into a season of excuses for us but things just aren't going our way at the moment.
"We need to re-group and use our rest week to get some players back."
Westbury have no game tomorrow, while Calne travel to Swindon 2nds in the league.
TROWBRIDGE captain Nick Lawes is targeting second place in the Southern Counties South after Saturday's convincing derby victory over Devizes.
The Green Lane outfit moved to within four points of promotion-chasing rivals Wootton Bassett after this their seventh consecutive league win.
Trowbridge host Wootton Bassett on February 17 and Lawes insists they can still over-take the north Wiltshire side.
He said: "Wootton Bassett have a game in hand but they still have to play both ourselves and Walcot. If we can beat them there's a good chance we can catch them by the end of the season.
"We're not battling against relegation like last year so everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. There's a really good vibe around the club at the moment."
Lawes has every confidence his players can continue their remarkable run of form, though he has warned them to guard against complacency.
"If we play like we did against Devizes on Saturday we will struggle. That was our worst performance for weeks.
"Devizes had a big set of forwards and we tried to match them up front, instead of throwing the ball around.
"The old Trowbridge might have buckled under the pressure, but we've got a good spirit going. I was impressed with the way we turned it around."
The Trowbridge defence came under intense scrutiny in the opening quarter as the Saddlebacks signalled their intent.
Two Andy Webb penalties gave the hosts a deserved 6-0 lead, although they never got close to the visitors' try-line.
In-form winger Adam Sullivan and full-back Ashley Chalk answered with two tries before the break to give Trowbridge a slender 10-6 advantage.
Chalk claimed his second score soon after the restart before Craig Hurcombe kicked a penalty to keep the hosts in touch.
Alex Hill and Hurcombe then traded three-point kicks before Lawes was sent to the sin bin for dissent.
Even without their captain and second row stalwart Lawes, Trowbridge held the upper hand and scored further tries through Holton and Sullivan.
Bridport are the visitors to Green Lane tomorrow in the Dorset and Wilts Vase before the vital league match against Wootton Bassett the following week.
WHEN Dave George gave his Bradford players an ultimatum before kick-off, even he could not have predicted the response.
Eighty minutes, 40 points and one league victory later, the Broom Ground coach could scarcely believe what he had just witnessed.
Thumped 42-5 in the reverse fixture at Greenbridge Road in October, Bradford turned the tables on Swindon with a superb display of finishing in front of their home fans.
"We were awesome today," said George. "I think Swindon were a bit shell-shocked because they didn't stick around for too long afterwards.
"To be honest I was a little surprised too. But it was great to see the lads with a smile back on their faces after a few poor results lately."
George revealed he had threatened to axe several members of his squad if the effort did not improve on Saturday.
He said: "I told the lads at training on Thursday and again before kick-off that if they weren't prepared to tackle they shouldn't bother turning up.
"It obviously worked because the defence was superb. Everyone put in maximum effort and we showed just what we're capable of on our day."
After 20 minutes of pressure in the first half, Swindon were rewarded with two penalties to take a 6-0 lead.
Bradford responded with an unconverted try from centre Sam Awdry, before wing Ben Lumley crashed over from a line-out. Ben Thompson kicked the extras to give the hosts a 12-6 lead at half time.
Thompson converted tries from the returning Jim Mawer, Tom Monks, Tim Parker and substitute Tom Davidson in a clinical second half display.
With no league fixture tomorrow, George is hoping to arrange a friendly match to build on Saturday's sparkling performance.
IT was back to reality for CATs on Saturday when the Melksham men were swept aside by league leaders Walcot in this top versus bottom clash.
After last week's shock victory over Wootton Bassett at the Conigre, CATs were left licking their wounds at the hands of the champions elect.
But if the opening 15 minutes of this match were anything to go by, any neutrals in the crowd could have been forgiven for expecting a close encounter.
With their opening attack of the first half, CATs roared into a 7-0 lead thanks to a try from centre Dave Dyke, converted by James Ponsford.
Sadly for the visitors, the early score was to prove the extent of their attacking thrust, and Walcot soon found a way back into the game.
Sixty-one points later the hosts were celebrating a resounding victory, but, according to CATs coach Daniel Jeffries, Walcot knew they had been in a game.
Said Jeffries: "We won 22 penalties during the match and we didn't kick for goal once. You're never going to beat a team like Walcot with penalty kicks, so we opted to kick for the corners.
"It would have been nice to have scored a few more tries but we made some sloppy errors in attack.
"We were also quite bold trying to run the ball out of defence and we turned the ball over a few times.
"But overall there's been a big improvement from the players over the last few weeks. We need to forget about this one and focus on our next match."
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