Having collected a concession against Oxfordshire last month, Sunday’s tie at Salisbury was effectively a winner-takes-all affair and it was the hosts who started brighter, two converted tries firing them 14-0 up at the start of the second quarter.
Berkshire got on the board just before the half-hour mark as Reading University student Alec Formela crossed the whitewash, George Tomlinson with the extras.
The home side kicked a penalty to open up a 10-point gap, but the Royal County struck back on the stroke of half-time as Windsor’s Mark Venter dotted down, Tomlinson – formerly of Worcester Warriors Academy and having played for Rams Development XV earlier this season – again on target.
Bicknell, who joined from Windsor last summer and went onto be the Dev XV’s top scorer, grabbed his first on 50 minutes to push the visitors in front, Tomlinson bisecting the uprights for 21-17.
Tomlinson keeps landing
Venter doubled his tally soon after as Tomlinson made it four from four, a third-quarter blitz seeing Bicknell also collect a second as Berkshire moved 16 points clear of their opponents.
Dorset & Wiltshire refused to give up the ghost, however, and gave themselves a lifeline with a score midway through the final quarter.
Another followed at the death, but by that stage it was too little, too late as Berks closed out the victory.
Former Rams Colts Louis Roumignac and Theo Pett-Ridge were among the visitors’ starters, prop Ollie Ireland coming off the bench.
Uni students Harry Judd, who captained the side, Isaac Tokura and Newbury’s Seb Burgess, who have all also played for Rams Development XV this season, were also part of the victorious squad.
*Picture by Adrian Barker Photography
