SWINDON St George skipper Connor Tomley admits it was disappointing to see their fixture called off over the weekend.

Ben Whincup’s side were due to play Bristol Sonics, but after their local rivals dropped out of the league, they were left without a game on Saturday.

St George had made a winning start to the campaign in their last outing, where they saw off Bath 26-18.

Despite being without a fixture, a few first team players opted to play in the St George A team, who put in an impressive display over Cheltenham Phoenix to win 60-28.

Initially, St George fell behind as the Phoenix established an early eight-point lead.

However, Whincup’s troops hit back through Greig O’Brien before slipping behind for a second time as the score went to 12-6 to the home side.

Todd Johnson, Jamie Deal and Rob Currie strengthened St George’s position, leaving them with a substantial margin at the interval.

After the break George Crowley and George Bowditch got their first tries of the afternoon, while O’Brien and Deal completed their hat-tricks with two second-half efforts each.

Tomley, who was out with a knee injury, says the strength in depth bodes well for the rest of the season.

“It was a very good performance from the second team and it was quite surprising to see them put 60 points past Cheltenham, who were a strong team last year,” he said.

“It can only be a good thing for us. If we have a couple more injuries in the first team, which there probably will be, then we know we can pull one or two of them up from the second team.

“It’s good we have the option there to bolster the first team.

“We had a couple of the first teamers in their because the seconds had some drop outs, so a few of them got a run out.”

Tomley, who will have to wait until next weekend to return from injury, conceded it is never a good thing to see a team withdraw from the league.

“We found out the game had been cancelled the day before after there were rumours they (Bristol) didn’t have a side,” he added.

“They folded and have left the league, which isn’t great to see. They lost a lot of players recently so didn’t have much of a choice. It’s not good for rugby so hopefully they bounce back.”