Chippenham head coach Rob Alford insists the club must continue to invest in their youth policy after his first team were relegated from South West One.

Their courageous 25-22 victory over Oxford Harlequins on Saturday was not enough to keep them afloat after relegation rivals Bracknell beat Reading 30-22.

Chippenham finished with 20 points, which would have been enough in any other season to keep them in the division.

After two seasons in the region's flagship division, Chippenham will return to South West Two East next season, where Alford believes they must blood the next generation of rugby stars.

He said: "It's hugely disappointing to get relegated but I think some of the players will be better for it. We've got a lot of young lads coming through and we have to look to continue that process next year.

"I believe we can establish ourselves as a South West One side in future without a big chequebook. You need a very strong youth set-up to achieve that, but I think we've got it."

With more and more teams paying players at South West level, Alford knows it will be difficult to move back up the rugby pyramid.

But the Allington Field chief has dismissed any talk of Chippenham trying to pay their way to success in future.

He said: "The club supports the lads every way they can by providing kit, free gym memberships, but they really can't afford to pay players.

"We survive because of our youth set-up and that's where we need to focus our attention."

Chippenham needed to beat Oxford by 13 points on Saturday to avoid the drop, but made the worst possible start.

From the kick-off, the visitors conceded a penalty which was thumped deep into Chippenham territory. The line-out ball found its way to Beau Wilson, who burst through the midfield and combined brilliantly with centre partner Andy Henley, who ran in under the posts.

Full back Pete Davies converted, but Chippenham fly half Scott Simmons reduced the gap with a penalty.

Chippenham kept pressing and were rewarded three minutes later when hooker Jon Whiteman dived over after lock Adie Price broke from a line-out.

The lead changed hands again on 17 minutes when a useful line-out move from Quins created space for Wilson to go over in the corner. Davies put Quins 15-8 up with a penalty.

Chippenham were level at the break, however, when prop Mark Livesey squeezed over from close range and Simmons converted.

After 44 minutes, Quins created a massive overlap on the left wing and an easy try for Henley, which winger Duncan Lynchsmith converted.

Whistle-happy referee Richard James sin-binned Quins flanker Ali Halsall after 50 minutes, but Chippenham only made headway when home prop Simon Chadbone received the same treatment 11 minutes later.

The visitors narrowed the deficit to two with a pushover try for Whiteman after they had wheeled the scrum.

Chippenham's fourth try after 76 minutes stemmed from a knock on by Quins' captain Owen Gustafson. But it looked as if Chippenham may have got away with a similar offence before scrum half Sam Alford scampered down the blindside to score.

A tense finale then ensued with visiting winger Jay Macrae going close deep into stoppage time.

"Our first objective was to win the match, and we did that," said Alford afterwards. We told the lads to forget about chasing the score because that would have left us open to counter attacks.

"This wasn't the match that cost us our league status. We lost two games, against Mounts Bay and Basingstoke, by a single point. Had we won those we could have finished the season in fifth place."

Chippenham have no time to dwell on the defeat however. On Sunday they defend the Dorset and Wilts Cup against Swanage and Wareham.