SKIPPER Connor Tomley says a slow start is what cost his Swindon St George side after they suffered their first South West League defeat of the season.

A pedestrian 20 minutes at the start of the game saw the Somerset Vikings, who won the West of England Pool A clash 38-26 at home, take a two-try lead, which Tomley says his side were unable to redeem themselves from.

Going into the game injury had plagued St George as they were without a total of 25 players across both of their senior sides.

Factor in a slow journey and the Swindon skipper said the result was a sluggish start to the contest in Somerset.

“We started off really slowly. We didn’t have a good warm-up or anything like that and then after 20 minutes we managed to pick it up, but it was a bit too late,” he said.

“We started to claw it back and a couple of boys got injured, we only had one substitute who wasn’t injured out of the four we took down there.

“Obviously we travelled, and it was quite a distance, so I think we were just slow getting out of the car, it was like we were still in there.

“They came out firing, which was unexpected because in recent years they haven’t really been a strong side.

“It was lucky we woke up after 20 minutes because otherwise, we would have got a pasting but with the injuries and the substitutes that we had, I think that showed in the final five minutes.”

Tomley was one of the three injured players on the bench, but was forced into action despite his groin complaint, which was originally set to side-line him for another two weeks.

The Swindon chief admits it was less than ideal, and that he is now more than likely going to miss this weekend’s clash with Bath at home.

“My groin didn’t feel that bad during the game to be honest, but it was stiff in the morning,” he added.

“I woke up on the Sunday morning regretting that I went on to the pitch, but we had a lot of players unavailable at the weekend.

“Most of our boys are rugby union players, so they all want a couple of weeks off at the end of their season.”