Royal Wootton Bassett were defeated 47-7 by Regional One South West leaders Barnstaple as they cruised to victory.
Going into the tie, the visitors had only not won two games all season and were hoping to complete their rampant form with a trip to Wiltshire.
Barnstaple travelled from Somerset for their first ever match with Royal Wootton Bassett and the hosts kicked off in near perfect conditions backed by a large crowd. The backing was boosted by Vice Presidents who had attended a pre-match lunch.
The league leaders launched an initial attack which was well defended from the hosts. Bassett then attacked with a small number of attacking lineouts and phases in the opposition 22.
Bassett then conceded a scrum but Barnstaple were penalised by the officials for going in at the wrong angle. The indiscipline saw the referee move the penalty up to the tryline.
The home side pounded the line and eventually the evergreen veteran prop Phil Bardwell forced his way over. Scrum half Rhys Floyd added the conversion and Bassett had an unexpected sixth minute 7-0 lead.
Barnstaple were stunned into action and spent the next six minutes camped in the Bassett half before their forwards eventually went over.
The conversion was added and the score in the game was pegged back level at 7-7. This was the pattern for the rest of the half with Barnstaple mainly in command with Bassett only able to break out dangerously now and again.
Barnstaple added three converted tries through Tyler Gordon-Oke which included the late bonus point try to lead 28-7 at the interval.
Bassett’s hopes were raised as the in-form opposition lost their scrum half to a red card early in the half.
Despite this, the morale raise was short lasted as they remained on top for much of the rest of the game and showed why they are one of the favourites for promotion.
Bassett who had been forced to make five changes from the previous week worked hard throughout the half but Barnstaple added three tries to win 47-7 and secure their 8th victory of the campaign.
The next game for the Wiltshire side will be a journey to South Devon to face third placed Brixham in what will be another difficult encounter.
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