SOUTH West Two East championship hopefuls Swanage and Wareham faltered at the first as they suffered an opening day upset at home to Chippenham.

Swans agonisingly missed out on promotion to South West One in the end-of-season play-off for the second consecutive season, denied by a bewildering late comeback by Penryn in the crucial decider.

They are expected to challenge strongly again this time around with a promising crop of youngsters emerging to back up a talented squad.

However, their campaign got off to a disastrous start when Chippenham were awarded a penalty inside the first minute of Saturday's clash and Andy Williamson put the visitors 3-0 ahead.

Darren McMillan broke clear out wide to add a try, before skipper Phil Graves reduced arrears with a penalty.

The home side then failed to convert pressure into points and were made to pay before the break when Alec Gibbons added a second try and Williamson a second penalty to stretch Chippenham's advantage to 16-3.

Tim Marshall gave the Bestwall boys hope early in the second half when he gathered to score under the posts and two Graves penalties brought the hosts to within three points before a late Grant Trewartha try and a penalty sealed Swans' fate.

Swans: J Marshall (T Marshall 40), Gould, P Graves, D Elford, Blackmore, Harris, G Graves, Sinclair (Randall 56), R Elford, R Williams, D Penny, D Burgess (Gregory 40), M Elford, Warren, Robbins.