HIGH-FLYING Swanage & Wareham notched up their sixth successive victory with a 52-0 whitewash of bottom-placed Ivel Barbarians in Yeovil.

In one of only two Southern Counties South fixtures to survive recent downpours, fourth-placed Swans further strengthened their position in the standings.

Playing against the wind, the visitors suffered an early blow when full-back Callum Baird was forced off with a broken collarbone for the second time this season.

Baird was replaced by Alex Parry on the wing with Darren Wilcox reverting to full-back after 11 minutes.

Despite the setback, Swans broke the deadlock when number eight Joe Desmond picked up the ball from the base of the scrum and powered his way over the line.

Fly-half Charlie Parish made amends for an earlier penalty miss to score under the posts and added the extras to hand Swans a 12-0 advantage. Four minutes before the interval, Darren Wilcox added a third try to tighten Swans' grip on the match.

With the wind at their backs, Swans were soon on the scoreboard in the second half with a converted try by winger Karl Barton.

It was a case of damage limitation for the hosts as Swans pressed forward with further tries from second-row Will Corsie and a maiden first-XV try for replacement flanker Jesse Scott.

Parish added the extras for a 38-0 lead before Ivel lost both |prop forwards, leading to uncontested scrums.

On 68 minutes, another move across Swans’ backs led to Barton going in for his second converted try of the game while skipper Robert Elford rounded off the scoring late on.

Swans manager Tom Dillon said: “The team seems to be knitting together and it was good to see the interchange between backs and forwards which we have been working on in training.

“It was a pity about the injury to Callum Baird as he was developing into a valuable full-back.”

  • Depleted Ellingham & Ringwood put in a spirited performance against London Three South West high-fliers Kings College School Old Boys at Parsonage Barn Lane.

The E's, who were without a number of key players, lost 25-0 to their second-placed visitors from London.

Among the players to impress after stepping up from the second XV and colts sides were Mark Burrett, Paul Hoggett and Ryan Sellwood.