TROWBRIDGE were unable to put the brakes on title-chasing Towcestrians as they were swept aside in Northamptonshire last weekend.

Towcestrians had suffered an uncharacteristic loss to Witney in their previous outings and the visitors were unable to stop them romping to the bonus point victory they needed to regain second place in the South West One East table.

Although depleted through injury, Trowbridge made the long trip up to Towcester with youngsters Gareth Davis, Phil Kilcoyne and Aaron Bray stepping up to fill the gaps.

After a penalty went the home side’s way, with a catch and drive rolling maul, they slipped the ball to hooker Fen Gallagher, who went in to score unopposed.

Towcestrians full-back James Falvey went in to score out wide but was again unsuccessful with the conversion.

The hosts started the second period well and it wasn’t long before centre David Devlin-Jones ran through and around the Trowbridge defence to score an excellent solo try from 40 metres.

Towcestrians took full control of the game as they went in search of a bonus point try and from one of their kicks to the corner, wing man Pepe Nanci went over and Falvey kicked the conversion.

The home side had prop Dougie Rattray sin-binned for a punch but Trowbridge couldn’t take advantage, with the home side weathering the storm and then sending number eight Craig Holton over, with Falvey adding the extras to make it 29-0.

But the Doric Park men finally had something to shout about when, from a set scrum, veteran Mark Durant pounced on a loose ball and roared in at pace from five metres to clinch a try.

But in the last five minutes, Towcestrians once again showed their class, setting up Marc Yeates to cut through the Trowbridge back line to score.