SWINDON College Old Boys director of rugby Martin Lloyd hailed his side’s 32-25 success at North Dorset as one of the best performances of the season.

The Pipers Way outfit have adapted to life back at Southern Counties level reasonably well this season but their hosts on Saturday have defeated high-flying Trowbridge twice this term and went into match sitting in fourth place in the South division.

However, a solid defensive effort led by Bobby Tilling, who played through the pain barrier after picking up an ankle injury during the contest, ensured that College returned home with their fifth win of the season.

Gareth Davies and Jack Daines were both driven over for tries, while Owain Hire outstripped the North Dorset defence to touch down and Tucker Blinkhorn crashed his way through the hosts backs to score.

Florin Palcau added the remaining 12 points with the boot as he converted three of the four tries and kicked two penalties.

“It was a good win,” Lloyd said. “They are a very useful side and I suppose that we are a little bit disappointed that we let them back into the game.

“They scored a try and converted it right at the end and thankfully the referee blew his whistle.

“It is hard to single any one player out from this game, it was a very good performance.

“Our back row of Matt Allen, Jack Daines and Callum House were superb and really carried the ball well, while Rory O’Brien was fantastic at tighthead and was very aggressive for the full 80.”

Royal Wootton Bassett were unable to stop the Chippenham charge in South West One East as they suffered 36-12 defeat at Ballards Ash.

With the Allington Field side keeping pressure on Old Patesians at the top of the table, Alan Low’s men went into the match having picked up five bonus point wins on the bounce.

And the signs were looking good for the hosts as prop Chris Rowland crashed over in the corner following a lineout.

Chippenham levelled matters with an unconverted score of their own before Bassett’s number eight Kyle Lovell crossed and skipper Dave Hogg added the extras to the hosts a 12-5 lead at the interval.

After the break, the visitors flew out of the blocks with two converted scores to go 19-12 up before running in three further tries.

Swindon’s recent resurgence was brought to a halt at Greenbridge Road as they suffered a 36-19 home defeat to Banbury with Jack Badminton, Tom Mannion and Ian Reynolds all touching down, while Adam Westall added two conversions.

Meanwhile, in Dorset and Wilts One North, Supermarine managed to get some points on the board for the first time in three matches but it was not enough to prevent them to falling to a 32-8 defeat at home to Avonvale.