A SPIRITED Salisbury RFC slipped to a crushing 54-21 defeat at promotion-chasing Dings Crusaders in National League 3 South West.

Green and Whites remain second from bottom and eight points from safety with three games to go.

On Saturday, Dings opened the scoring when right wing George Hooper crossed in the corner.

Salisbury responded immediately with a searing break from Gerard Narruhn who found Josh Green in support and the skipper fed Dave Tonge who dived over, Matt Loader adding the extras.

The home side applied pressure and scored with two penalties either side of a sin binning for Liam Gilbert, who prevented a quick tap penalty from being taken.

Dings took advantage of their numerical superiority and a series of drives resulted in a score for hooker Paul Fincken. Salisbury dusted themselves down and a quickly taken penalty by Tonge set Gilbert away, Rob Best was up in support and Rob Larcombe finished the move with another defence splitting line; Loader again converted for a half time score of 18-14.

Gary Williamson became Salisbury’s second yellow card of the day in a decision that baffled both sets of supporters and Dings made their number count pushing the Salisbury pack back for Tom Knight to score.

It became one-way traffic as the visitors tired but still managed a good score through Narruhn, who dived over with Loader again converting. Salisbury host newly-crowned champions Old Redcliffians on Saturday (3pm).