SALISBURY RFC fielded possibly their strongest line up of the season, but lost to visiting high flyers Royal Wootton Bassett 30-17.

The game was preceded by a minute’s applause in memory of East Dorset prop Jamie Davis who sadly passed away the previous week.

The visitors started by mounting a considerable spell of pressure on the home line. Salisbury’s defence looked better organised than of late and repulsed them, before taking the lead thanks to a Robbie Keith penalty.

Bassett responded and scored two tries and a penalty. The city side were not to be outdone and Christian Metson, forming a formidable centre partnership with Jon Goldsmith, was able to crash over to score, converted by Keith.

Salisbury were dominant after the break and the at half back Keith was organising and pulling the strings allowing Dave Tonge to vary his attacks and probe for weaknesses. Second row Tom Bond, skipper Josh Green, appeared to cover every blade of grass while the back row of Ant Sturges, Toby Daw and Angus Johnson toiled tirelessly to provide ball.

Reward came when Tonge looked for a gap and emerged from a pile of bodies with a try, Keith once again kicking the conversion to level things. The home side were in the ascendancy, Rory MacTaggart running hard and elusively looking for a score and the front row boys, Mike Dawaulder, Miles Thompson, Triston Avery and Sean Galloway crashing into their opponents.

Sadly pressure was not turned into points and Bassett went onto win 30-17.

SALISBURY United lost to Oakmeadians first team 38-17.

At half-time being just four scores down was not an issue as the United now had the elements in their favour and were winning a fair share of possession.

In the last quarter, they scored 17 unanswered points with tries from James Gamble (2), Nathan Samuda and a conversion from the evergreen Mark Lerpiniere.

JEFF Watt has been appointed as Salisbury RFC's new lead coach with responsibility for the 1st XV.

He will be supported by Nik Mould and Mark Lerpiniere as they target a number of wins across all three teams to ensure we meet our targets and finish the season on a high, to provide a positive springboard for next season.

The appointment is on an interim basis to the end of the season, when the club will take stock and consider their structure for next season.