Welcome victory against Wiltshire rivals

Trowbridge's second half of the season began with the visit of Swindon, who had recently fallen down the league after being leaders in the early stages of the season. They had beaten their hosts 65-15 in the second round of matches but the Doric Park side obstinately refused to allow their visitors to dominate the way they did in that September match. They were eventually rewarded with an unlikely victory when you consider recent results.

Trowbridge captain Scott Williams and Mark Durant returned from injury and winger James Davies was able to play during his break from university to take the place of the injured George Fowles.

The conditions were difficult for the teams on a day when other pitches in the Trowbridge area were unfit to play. In fact the Doric Park pitch stood up well considering the rain that had fallen over the Christmas and New Year period. Trowbridge played with the elements in the first half and this seemed to be the best option with the prospect of more rain during the match. Most of the play was between the 22 metre lines with neither side gaining a significant advantage in the early stages. Trowbridge were playing a containing game, but their confidence grew as the match progressed, while Swindon's cause was not helped by them giving away too many penalties when they were pressurised into holding on to the ball at the breakdowns, incurring the displeasure of referee Bill Gould. The deadlock was broken when a long range penalty from Lloyd Davis after half an hour from 40 metres bisected the uprights after he had missed an earlier opportunity, and the next significant incidence came after James Davies had made progress. Trowbridge who had the edge in the scrums and also took their share of the line outs, won the resulting scrum, but George Leat was forced back several metres by the Swindon defence. He managed to slip the ball to flanker George Cope, who had an excellent match, and he took an advantage of the Swindon defence opening up and went through the gap to score just before the break. Lloyd Davis narrowly missed the conversion and was taken off at half time. Dave Finlay moved from centre to fly half and the experienced Dan Smith came on to play in the centre.

Swindon played with the wind at their backs in the second half and neither team were able to consistently use the wind to their advantage.. Several touch kicks and two kick offs went directly into touch, with both sides being guilty. The match continued to be evenly balanced with the only real chance falling to Swindon when they attacked down the left wing but the final pass did not go to hand and Trowbridge managed to clear. Swindon captain Adam Westall converted a forty metre penalty after 27 minutes of the half and it looked as though they may snatch the match, but the Trowbridge forwards finished well. An attack up the ring wing was stopped by a deliberate knock on and Swindon Left wing Jordan Sheppard was yellow carded with 5 minutes to go. Trowbridge kicked for a line out and a series of rolling mauls resulted in them forcing there way over with hooker Dan Phillips touching down. The home team was not finished. They tried to keep the ball live with the extra player and Lee Fairclough set up George Leat who had moved to the ring wing, and found himself without a wing to beat. He out paced the Swindon defence from 30 metres out to score and Swindon need three score to win.The match was completed and while the score probably flattered the home side a little, the welcome win to the home side was deserved and will give them confidence to move on from the recent results. It hopefully will encourage some of the players that have recently been missing to return to help the team to successfully see their way through the rest of the season.

This win sees Trowbridge create an 8 point lead over the teams in relegation positions with High Wycombe and Reading losing their matches, while Swanage and Wareham beat Maidenhead at home. They are also only a point behind Grove who lost heavily at home to league leaders Towcestrians.

They travel to Windsor next Saturday before target fixtures at fellow strugglers Grove and High Wycombe and then a home match against Swanage and Wareham. These matches will give a good indication of their likely final position before more challenging fixtures later. But there is nothing certain as there have been some surprising results during the season.