MELKSHAM made it five wins in a row in Dorset & Wilts One North with a 34-12 victory at home to near neighbours Calne on Saturday.

In an arm wrestle of a game, there were very few points on the board in the first half as a try from a lineout drive saw the visitors take a slender 5-0 lead into the break.

Melksham came alive after the interval, running in six tries to seal a bonus-point win.

Alex Cox quickly levelled the scores with a powerful drive to touch down before Rory Mulgrew backed his pace to avoid defenders and score, with Connor Randall converting.

Luke Cador then side-stepped his way to the tryline and Matt Van Den Boogaard ran straight up the wing to cross the whitewash.

Next on the scoreboard was Phil Stone after a determined, weaving run, with Mulgrew adding the extras.

Calne battled on and got back on the scoresheet via a penalty try but Melksham had the final word as the final whistle approached and Mulgrew scored his second try to wrap up the win.

Elsewhere, Warminster racked up a half-century of points in beating Trowbridge II 50-22 at home.

Warminster found themselves ahead when Dan McIntyre used his pace to find a gap in the visitors’ defence, with Jason Sprangle adding the extras.

Trowbridge hit back straight away, though, as a poor restart catch resulted in a penalty for the visitors due to an accidental offside. The visitors kicked for the corner and drove over from the resulting lineout.

The remainder of the half continued in similar fashion, one side scoring and the other responding.

Lai Vinakadina got the next points for Melksham, breaking through the defence to score a try converted by Sprangle, while Lachlan Stuart and McIntyre also got themselves over the whitewash.

However, for all of Warminster attacking play, the defence was letting them down as Trowbridge had three tries themselves to only trail 24-17 at half-time.

The visitors struck first after the break when another set-piece rumbled over the tryline and although the conversion was missed, the gap was now only two points.

Warminster opted to use the boot to Trowbridge in their own half and the pressure paid off when Sprangle intercepted a pass and burst towards the line before feeding Stuart to get his second try.

James Rowbotham was next to strike after a thunderous short-distance run, converted by Jimmy Rees, before McIntyre completed his hat-trick after finding a gap in the defence.

Ross Williams was the last man over the whitewash for the home side in the closing stages and two more conversions from Rees took their tally to the 50-point mark.