SUPERMARINE kicked off 2011 in style with a comprehensive 50-3 win at Cricklade in Dorset & Wilts 1 North on Saturday.

Despite seeing signs of rustiness amongst his teammates, player-coach Sean Millwaters was delighted with impressions made on the game by some of the quieter members of the first team squad.

And one name which stood out particularly to Millwaters was Darren Milne, who swapped full-back for scrum-half with aplomb.

“Milney moved into scrum-half for the first time and to be honest he was excellent,” said Millwaters.

“He gave us good, quick, solid ball to move forwards from and scored a couple of tries as well.

“He would have had a third if he hadn’t passed to Robin Smith when he was over the tryline.

“A lot of the players stood up on Saturday, and it showed the strength we have at the club.

“We were a bit rusty at times, but it was still a good performance and we were very happy.”

Marine went to their lowly local rivals intent on a maximum points return, and had secured a bonus point by half-time courtesy of tries from Milne, Matt Dickens, Nick Moulden and Pete Mabbott.

After the break the rout continued as Milne and Dickens grabbed their second tries and Smith and Millwaters also registered, with the South Marston club clocking up the half-century on the full-time whistle.

After several weeks without a game, Millwaters was impressed at the overall standard of Marine’s play - and their attacking intent in particular.

“We scored eight tries and got the bonus-point win, which is what we aimed at before the game,” said the stand-off, who added five conversions to his touch-down.

“That will add to our points difference, which can only be a good thing come the end of the season.

“Maybe there were one or two things we could have done differently, if we were being hyper-critical, but generally we were very pleased.”

The result was as good as Marine could have hoped for as they set their sights on Melksham and Calne at the top of the division.

And with both sides yet to come to South Marston this season, Millwaters is optimistic a top-two finish is still up for grabs.

“We’re only two points behind Calne and six behind Melksham now, and there is still plenty to play for this season,” he said.

“We are happy with how things are going and we just need to keep taking every game one at a time.”