AFTER two defeats this was a welcome and convincing victory for Devizes in Southern Counties South.

Although bottom of the table, Minety provided some credible resistance in the first half but were outplayed after the interval, when the Saddlebacks added 44 points.

Within five minutes of the kick-off, fly-half Dan Mayland touched down when Minety failed to secure a bouncing ball in their in goal area.

This was followed by a period of play in which neither side made much progress but the stalemate was broken by lock forward Josh Gould, who made a break in midfield and fed Craig Hurcombe, who sliced through the defence to score.

Matt Holloran converted to establish a 12-0 lead for Devizes.

Minety were winning a fair share of possession and might have scored from two interceptions, but Devizes used the ball more effectively.

This was demonstrated by winger Jonathan Beddoe, who came on to replace the injured Rory Brown and immediately scored from an expansive three-quarter move to extend the lead to 17-0 at half time.

After the break the Saddlebacks took control of the game, scoring at regular intervals and exposing Minety's lack of pace and basic defensive frailty.

Dan Mayland began the onslaught when he wrong-footed the Minety defence after Devizes had won a scrum five metres from the Minety tryline.

Holloran added the two points for a 24-0 lead before another sweeping three-quarter move put Hurcombe into space to score again.

A timely pass from centre Gareth Davies gave flanker Tom Reed the opportunity to dummy has way over for another before from possession won by Craig Bryant, centre Rich McCrum ran strongly through the defence to post another five-pointer.

Devizes three-quarters were now operating with skill and pace, being smoothly set in motion by scrum-half James Booth.

An attack from halfway was finished off by Gould, who was awarded man of the match, to record his second try.

Varying the play skipper Mike McCrum then picked up from the back of a scrum to break through the first line of defence and provide Hurcombe with a further scoring opportunity.

Two more tries were scored by Rob Collis and Hurcombe to complete an emphatic victory.

Next week Devizes will be away to North Dorset, the current league leaders.

Devizes' second string beat Bath Saracens 58-8.