CONFIDENCE-FILLED Salisbury RFC seized the moment at Gainsborough Park by leapfrogging hosts Sherborne to pinch second place in Southern Counties South.

A dominant 26-9 victory gave their promotion credentials another welcome push as they head into their final seven league fixtures hoping to remain nudging champions-elect Swanage and Wareham.

But before their all-ornothing clash with the leaders two weeks on Saturday, Salisbury ensured they did a job on their fellow promotion rivals.

They pulled through a chilly, winter snap to get quickly off the mark in Dorset, courteous of Paddy Dickson offloading to Dave Tonge to open the scoring.

Shortly after, Tom Pottage slotted over a penalty to settle some early nerves of both the players and travelling supporters.

Sherborne were penalised with a harsh yellow card for a deliberate knock-on but soon scored through a penalty of their own.

Just before half time, the crowd were entertained by another classic Tom Pottage try as he sprinted from the half way line to score near the flag and give Green and Whites a 13-3 lead at the interval.

Following an early exchange of converted penalties after the restart, Salisbury were penalised on several occasions for ill-discipline which allowed the hosts to score another penalty.

However, Tonge then sent Pottage off on a darting run and went under the posts to extend the visitors’ advantage.

Dom Porter broke through late on to confirm a comfortable victory ahead of their trip to lowly Corsham on Saturday.

Salisbury now have almost three times as many points as they had at the end of their campaign of struggle last season.

Head coach Dan Jeffries said: "They often say the sign of a good team is the ability to win when they don't play well and that was what we did on Saturday."

"It wasn't pretty but we got the job done. We began the game with a very clear game plan and used it well in the first 30 minutes to build a lead. Playing off the front foot with big carries from Esnouf, Goldsmith and Ronaboldo, we controlled possession and took the game to them.

"Our lineout was fantastic throughout the game with Miller and Gilbert winning ball for fun. However, Sherbourne managed to fragment the game for us throughout the middle period of the game and, although we dominated territory and they failed to create any real chances, we seemed to force it more that we needed to.

"Despite this, we controlled the 80 minutess against a team who were above at the start of the day and came home with a bonus point win and have now played three games without conceding a try so I cannot be anything but really happy with the boys."

  • Former Salisbury juniors Will Homer and Rory Jennings, playing at nine and ten respectively, played an imperative role in Bath’s 23- 21 victory at Harlequins in the LV Cup.