Matt Dawson ran in a hat-trick of tries as Chipping Norton won 39-13 at Bicester to maintain their slender lead at the top of Southern Counties North.

The flanker was in fine form at Oxford Road, but his side had to rally from 13-12 down at the break.

Chippy took the lead on 12 minutes when Dawson finished a slick move, fly half Adam Smith converted.

Bicester hit back when flanker Adrian Teckoe scored following a line-out move.

Dawson bagged his second from a scrum, but Bicester skipper Dan Spencer was driven over for 12-10.

Bicester scrum half Steve Risbridger slotted a penalty on the stroke of half-time.

Dawson outpaced the defence to complete his hat-trick on 55 minutes.

Bicester lost Leigh Rushworth, Will Clayton and Anthony Lewis to the sin bin, while Chippy rammed home their advantage with scores from prop Lee Tustin, No 8 Neil Stannard and a penalty try.

Smith converted two and added a penalty.

Witney are just behind in second after beating Milton Keynes 26-0.

They only led 7-0 midway through the second half before taking control.

Witney weathered a lot of early pressure, with Carl Campbell leading the defence, before fellow flanker Wayne Caffekey powered over and full back Ed Mitchem converted.

Both sides missed two penalties before the break, then Witney’s scrum started to dominate.

Centre Carl Strutt set up wing James Monks for try No 2, then scored the third himself from 30 metres.

As Keynes tired, Monks bashed through the middle for a fourth, which Mitchem converted.

Grove are level on points with Chippy and Witney after coming from behind to win 24-22 at Newbury Stags.

Newbury took the lead with a penalty from fly half Dave Jones after some concerted pressure, then he converted centre Phil Simmons’s try for 10-0.

Scrum half Will MacKenzie pulled a try back after flanker Jamie Fredericks’s break and fly half Roger Sevier converted, but a score from full back Danny Williams put Stags 15-7 up at the break.

Stags made it 22-7 with a try from replacement Mike Byrne, converted by Jones.

Left wing Zach Grant gave Grove hope with a fine team try, then centre Nick Sevier’s side-stepping solo score, converted by his brother Roger, made it interesting.

Grove’s superior fitness gave them the edge and MacKenzie pounced on an error by Jones to score the winning try.