Supermarine skipper looking to keep heads up (From Swindon Advertiser)

Supermarine skipper looking to keep heads up

6:00am Friday 2nd November 2012 in Rugby By Andy Warren

SUPERMARINE skipper Matt Dickens is determined to keep his players’ heads up despite a difficult start to the season.

The South Marston club have lost all six of their matches since gaining promotion to Southern Counties South, conceding close to 400 points in the process, and only scoring 46 of their own.

Their latest defeat came in a 106-7 home loss to Wimborne at the weekend, but despite the hammering, Dickens revealed the team are remaining positive.

“It is a strange thing to say given how much we lost by at the weekend, but the mood now is probably the best it has been all season,” he said.

“Saturday was a really tough day, of course it was, but in patches we did pretty well and there are plenty of positives to take from it.

“We have a nucleus of 18 players who all turn up to training and all give their best for the side, and they are all good guys off the pitch too, which helps.

“We are focused on the positives and that is the only way to be, and as the captain it is important I do that.

“I know a lot of the guys really well, and I will do everything I can to keep things positive, but we have to keep putting the hard work in.”

Marine’s latest attempt to arrest their slide comes away at Corsham tomorrow, and Dickens knows exactly where his side need to improve.

“I think we are struggling to cope with how fast the game is in this division, and it has certainly taken us some time to work it out,” he said.

“Another thing is that last season when teams broke our line we were able to sort it out, but this year teams break through and we can’t catch them and they score tries.

“I personally don’t know all that much about Corsham but a lot of the other guys do, and we will be well prepared and ready for them.”

Elsewhere in the division, Wootton Bassett take on Weymouth as they look to build on their 28-5 victory over Walcot.