ALAN Low admitted his patched-up Royal Wootton Bassett simply ran out of puff as they went down 40-3 at Southern Counties North leaders Bletchley.

The Ballards Ash side were missing a host of regulars due to unavailability but only trailed 19-3 at the interval following a penalty from Dave Hogg.

As Bassett tired the game began to slip away from them in the second period, but Low insisted there were still plenty of positives to take.

“It wasn’t a disaster because we had two guys making first team debuts on the wings, Dane Joiner and Tom Sharpe, and they did pretty well, and Chris Sinegar came into the back row and ended up being man of the match," said Low.

“At the break we were in contention and we were right there, but with all the changes in the second half the fitness showed.

“They had a very good pack with two second rows at 6ft 6in and we are not the biggest in the world. Because the fitness wasn’t there we couldn’t get the tempo in the game we were trying to get and that slowed us down and sucked us in a little bit.

“Their full-back was the quickest player I’ve seen in the league this season and playing some inexperienced guys meant he was able to exploit some space.

“The guys did well and stepped up, though, and we were able to put some pressure on them although we weren’t able to turn it into points.”

Elsewhere in the division Swindon College Old Boys went down 43-0 to High Wycombe but chairman Martin Peaple wasn’t too downhearted given his side made the trip with only 15 players.

“It wasn’t too disappointing because we have gone away with a few players missing again and it was hard, but we kept going,” he said.

“They only scored two tries by half-time and we looked like we could pinch a bonus point off them, but they scored three or four late ones.

“To go up there without so many players and get a result like that wasn’t too bad.”