Midsomer Norton RFC were chomping at the bit to get stuck into some league rugby after a positive pre-season as they travelled to Chipping Sodbury for the season opener.

After a very positive start they took the lead with a penalty from last year's player of the season Ben Taylor but then the home side hit back by exploiting the blindside to lead 5-3.

At this point Sodbury had a bounce in their step and felt they had the measure of the Mendip side, unfortunately for them what followed was a fine all-round performance where Midsomer Norton dominated in every aspect of the game.

Hard running, cutting lines with players always in support for the offloads made the most of their superior fitness and skill-set.

Aligned with a solid set piece, relentless defence and tactical kicking, the men in red and white were a class above and played some exciting rugby full of flair and fortitude.

Norton's first try came from constant pressure up front and fast hands to give Jeffery a chance to wriggle and squirm, and throw out a telescopic arm to touch down.

Then, at the end of the first half, Button picked up from the base and tip-toed over the line like a 16-stone ballerina. The score was 5-17 when the sides changed ends.

The second half was completely dominated by Midsomer Norton from the kick off and it only took a couple of minutes for Murphy to score in the corner.

In his first start at 9 he was controlling the game superbly along with half-back partner James Abbott.

Then it was the captain's turn as Tom Fear crashed over after some scintillating interplay between forwards and backs.

It was back to Murphy for the next score as he and Button worked an almost identical try to his first as Button gave the scoring pass.

Two more tries were to follow as the Norton side continued to throw the ball about and create space at every opportunity.

Mitchard swung out a pass that Cipriani would have been proud of to give Joe Knight the ball on the wing with 30 yards to go and he burned the outside defence to touch down.

The final try came from a Button rampage down the right hand side starting in his own half before Jeffery appeared out of nowhere to receive yet another offload and score under the posts.

The whole team performed extremely well with the final score being Chipping Sodbury 5 Midsomer Norton 48. The players will take confidence into the next fixture at home against Clevedon.