Swindon 22 - Witney 10
First the good news, James Lamb became a father just hours before the kickoff.
Mum Laura and baby daughter are both fine, dad was said to be too tired and
emotional to play, so no commitment from the Captain then! Onto the bad news and
those who made the trip to Swindon in horrible conditions, saw our first defeat
of the season. It looked to be a game of two halves as the wind and rain blew
down the pitch and Swindon kicked off with the elements behind them. Things
started badly, as from our first attack, influential flanker Carl Campbell
galloped off, but left his ribs exposed and played no further part in the game
and on came the Swindon born Toby Perry. This change around in the pack, plus
other changes in the backs, meant that theWitney side had a bit of a different
look this week. But we were still playing with confidence and it took a yellow
card for Sam Collins to give the home side an advantage. This they took by
charging down a rushed kick, winning the ball back and scoring in the corner.
Swindon then kicked a penalty to end the half eight nil ahead.
With the weather behind us we should have put the pressure on Swindon, but
passes were rushed, balls dropped and to make the job even harder we conceded a
second try, which was also converted. But Ed Mitchem calmly slotted a penalty
and we were still in with a good chance when Ali McRoberts kicked behind the
Swindon defence and James Monks gathered the ball to score under the posts.
Steady Eddie converted, to close the gap to five points. This could have put the
home side under more pressure, but they came back strongly and found a gap in
midfield to score a third try and end our winning run.
So after last weeks defeat in the league, Swindon came out very determined and
deserved their win. Next week its a local derby with "Chippy" and a chance to
put the frustrations of this match behind us.
1st XV
Mitchem, Collins(L), Strutt, Monks, Overbury, McRoberts, Lambourne, Serle,
Collins(S), Richens, Rowles, Bennett, *Muller,Campbell(C), Caffekey.
Repl: Perry(C.Campbell), Lamb(H), Fuller, Dunbar.
