A DISASTROUS first half saw Westbury slip to their heaviest defeat of the season at early pacesetters Avonvale.

With his squad hampered by injuries and unavailabilities, coach Chris Bush only had 16 players at his disposal and was left with little option other than to jam square pegs into round holes.

As a result, Westbury’s Bath-based hosts were able to get an early score and they never looked back, with missed tackles, dropped passes and poor player position leading to Vale running in six unanswered tries and constructing a dominant 36-0 lead at half-time.

However, the visitors did manage to steady their shaky ship and outscore the home side in the second period to earn a try bonus point.

Finally playing to their strengths and using the forwards, they were able to dominate the set-piece.

They opened their account with a pushover try from number eight Chris Gillam and followed that up with three further tries from captain Nigel Kershaw, who was once again standing in at scrum-half and sniping at the back of the scrums.

Stand-off Aaron Vaughan added three conversions as Westbury eventually lost 55-26.

Bush’s side are sixth in the Dorset & Wilts Two North table and host Bath Saracens next.