SUPERMARINE moved into a good position in Dorset & Wilts 1 North after a fine 20-5 win against Pewsey Vale.

Faced by a strong and direct Vale side, Sean Millwater’s Marine outfit earned a comfortable bonus-point victory to move them within striking distance of leaders Minety at the top of the table.

Millwaters was pleased by Marine’s performance and praised his side’s defence as the foundation for their strong league position.

“They brought a hard pack, probably based on route one rugby. What they didn’t expect was that our defence was extremely good,” Millwaters told the Advertiser.

“We pride ourselves on our defence, we know that if we defend hard we will score.”

Marine threatened the Pewsey line from the outset and got the first score when second row Chris Taylor went over in the corner off the back of some good build-up play across the line.

The conversion was missed on what was not a day for kicking - with no attempts at goal successful for either side.

Pewsey drew level after a rare mistake from the Marine defensive ranks. Millwaters said many would consider the try a good score from an attacking standpoint but he felt his side shouldn’t have allowed Vale to get into such a dangerous position.

“If you watched it from the sidelines you’d say it as a good try as their guy finished it well,” he said. “From our perspective it should have not have got to that point, their ten found a little gap and went through but there was couple of missed tackles.”

Marine took the lead again before half-time, with Killian Spain finishing off more good play.

After the break, Marine’s defence never looked like being breached. That solid base allowed for a lighthearted moment after tighthead Dai Wilson charged over from a quick tap.

“His celebration was best described as animated,” said Millwaters.

“For a big hunk of a man, he squealed ‘I scored, I scored, I can’t believe I scored.’ “I think he was a bit embarrassed after.”

Marine could have scored more, missing a few decent opportunities to add to their total. Stu Dawson rounded off the match by finishing off a move that started with a 50m break from Alex Robinson.

Dawson’s try illustrated Millwaters’ assertion that the South Marston side are dangerous from any position if their defence remains tight. It’s an aspect of Marine’s game that Millwaters was keen to focus on after it let them down in Southern Counties North last season.

“We can attack from anywhere, after last year’s form where our defence was poor in a higher league, we concentrated on our structure,” he said.

Supermarine are five point behind leaders Minety with two games in hand and Millwaters is pleased to be in such a strong position.

“It’s good that we’re in control of our own destiny, we’re not relying on other results to go our way,” he said.

“I’m just taking each game one at a time, I’d rather have the points than the games in hand.”