Sidmouth Chiefs remain top of the Tribute Western Counties West table after the matches on the first Saturday of March.

The Chiefs, who entertained Chard at the Blackmore, won the match 44-17 with Luke Wells-Burr crossing for a hat-trick of tries. In all, Chiefs scored six tries and there was another big points return from Rory O’Brien who scored one of the tries and also kicked four conversions and two penalties for a personal 19 point haul.

With regard to the results for their rivals for the top honour – there are arguably four teams still in the title race – Crediton won 27-10 at Saltash, St Austell defeated Bideford 17-15 and Wellington won 15-8 at Tiverton.

With just nine points separating the top four the closing weeks of the season are bound to carry heightened drama.

As for the next round of fixtures, on Saturday (March 9), Sidmouth travel to Crediton for what looks to be a real ‘crunch fixture’.

Also on Saturday, St Austell visit Chard and Wellington entertain Truro.

Tribute Western Counties (W)

P W D L F A Pts

Sidmouth 20 16 2 2 630 290 82

Crediton 20 17 1 2 473 296 80

St Austell 21 15 1 5 480 312 78

Wellington 20 15 2 3 589 285 73

Wadebridge Camels 21 12 0 9 446 484 57

Tiverton 21 10 1 10 437 413 53

Falmouth 21 10 1 10 365 458 47

Kingsbridge 21 6 1 14 404 432 38

Winscombe 20 7 0 13 334 481 36

Truro 21 6 3 12 373 482 36

Bideford 21 6 1 14 349 356 36

Paignton 21 6 1 14 297 387 33

Chard 21 6 0 15 344 611 33

Saltash 21 6 0 15 300 534 32