Vase semi-final In a bruising encounter on hard ground, Devizes Colts emerged from a prolonged period of mediocre performances to thoroughly deserve a comprehensive win against a feisty Wootton Bassett XV.

Playing uphill into a stiffing breeze, Wootton Bassett exerted early pressure and scored an unconverted try on 5 minutes after a ruck near Devizes line.

Devizes Colts welcomed back first XV players Rory Brown and Steve McCraith and each made a significant impact during the game.

Brown was voted by Wootton Basset as man of the match with his personal contribution of 16 points and brought control and vision to the game.

McCraith was as ever a handful in attack and defence and was denied his own tries by desperate Wootton Bassett defence. Both are a huge credit to the Colts and the Club and deserve the highest praise.

The Colts have a number of emerging good players and each made significant contributions to this semi final tussle.

The lugubrious Lewis Paget, a master at the front of the line out, scored the first of Devizes four tries having won the line out on the Bassett 22 and driving over after a series of rucks, making it 5-5 after 19 minutes.

Devizes began to dominate the set pieces and breakdowns with effective counter rucking and Bassett began to feel the pressure. The referee warned Bassett players for high tackles and soon they began to bicker among themselves.

From another penalty on the Bassett 22, the fresh Butcher took a quick tap penalty and the ball was worked out to Man Mountain and centre Gosling who drove over for the try, converted by Brown after 28 minutes.

The Devizes defensive play was superb at all phases and flanker Toby Harper in particular, made a number of important contributions at the breakdown area and ensured Devizes has a comfortable lead by half time.

Playing downhill with the breeze after the break, Devizes gradually took full control. Captain Burrows suffered a back injury and Brown moved from full back to fly half.

From the kick off, replacement Bond made 40 metres taking four defenders with him and from the resulting scrum Brown with his first touch a fly half drove over from 20m for the third try which he also converted to make it 19-5.

The Bassett centre who had already been warned for dangerous play was sin-binned for a cynical cheap kick on flanker Craig Brown who had brought him down in a tackle.

Brown missed a simple penalty but made amends 5 minutes later making the score 22-5.

After 31 minutes another Bassett player was sin-binned for a punch and this time Brown made no mistake with the penalty to go 25-5 ahead.

On 37 minutes Bassett scored an unconverted try from the line out.

The Devizes players were a little confused as the line out took place with the referee standing at the front of the line out as the ball came in to make it 25-10.

In the dying moments Brown got the ball in open play and again showed his speed and evasion skills and forced himself over in the corner to make it 30-10 to the visitors.

Colts head coach Andy Smith said: "Our best performance for many weeks. The forwards were immense at the breakdown and the backs used the ball well on every occasion.

"Bassett tried to intimidate us, but the players focused their energies on playing effective and controlled rugby.

"The contribution of all players was fantastic, but the front row throughout the game was outstanding in all facets of the game.

"My players were fresh and relished the challenge and deserved the win.

We look forward to a grand finale to cap the season with a trophy to mark the efforts of all involved."