South West 1 East

WALLINGFORD were relegated after a 56-12 defeat at Amersham & Chiltern, who were crowned champions.

Starting the day two places above the relegation zone, Wallingford could not muster a bonus point, while rivals Reading Abbey and Bletchley defeated Wimborne and Oakmeadians respectively.

This meant Wallingford finished three points adrift – having had five deducted for fielding an ineligible player against Abbey on October 23.

Wallingford, led by director of rugby Martin Moran, disputed this matter as they felt James Neal, a colt, was correctly registered, but the RFU ruled against them.

On Saturday, Wallingford trailed 10-5 after captain Ian Jeffreys’s close-range try.

The visitors had Pete Holton sin-binned for taking out a dummy runner and were 17-5 down at the break.

Jeffreys added a second try, converted by Ralph Smith.

Amersham, who scored tries through Joe Hall (2), Bradley Reeve, Ross Bugden, Tom Fletcher, Stefaan Myeburgh, Wayne Wilson and Tom Grammenos, with Dan Kinsey kicking two penalties and five conversions, ran away with it.

Flanker-cum-hooker Tom Hill said: “The second half was a shambles. Amersham tore us to bits really.

“We are obviously all gutted to be relegated.

“I don’t feel we have been one of the three worst teams throughout the season, but we haven’t been good enough on too many occasions.”

Witney slipped to fifth place after losing 17-6 at Marlow, who leapfrogged them.

The visitors started strongly, with Henry Lamb kicking a third-minute penalty.

Marlow were dominating up front, but lock Marc Copperwheat’s run set up a second penalty chance, which Lamb converted on 23 minutes.

The hosts had a pushover try disallowed, but led 14-6 at the break, with two tries from flanker Chris Ellias, converted by wing Miles Noble.

Noble finally added a penalty after two bad misses, while captain James Lamb was yellow-carded for what referee Chris Goss ruled was an attempted trip.