SWINDON St George didn’t get the result their performance deserved as they went down 26-20 to Bristol Sonics on the opening day of the West of England Division season.

The Greenbridge Road side were only two points down at the break, and again battled back from 22-14 down to trail 22-20 going into the final few minutes, but Bristol were able to add another try to take the victory.

Swindon captain Richard White was disappointed with his side’s opening day result but was proud of the way his team were able to battle back and push Bristol close.

“We played some great rugby both in attack and defence and with a better bounce of the ball could have won it,” he said.

“We have work to do in training to improve some aspects but we take a lot of positives from this game.”

St George started the game poorly as they lost possession in the first tackle and put themselves under pressure from the off, but they kept Bristol at bay with aggressive defence.

The home side kept attacking, and it took seven minutes of constant pressure to break Swindon’s line with a try which was eventually converted.

Swindon eventually managed to get a foot-hold in the game with a series of penalties, and a quick break from Greig O’Brien looking certain to get Swindon on the board but somehow he was held up over the line.

Eventually the pressure told as quick-thinking half-back Milo Hartley forced his way over after taking a quick tap penalty, and things got even better four minutes later when James Slatter crossed the whitewash out wide to put Swindon into the lead.

Bristol regained their advantage on the half hour only to see their lead disappear in less than a minute following a close range try as captain White noticed a gap in the home line and took advantage to dive over.

The Sonics went ahead again when a second-half kick was caught in the wind and bounced kindly to set up a try, but Chris Kent struck for St George from 20 metres out before Slatter added a superb conversion.

The two defences took over in the closing stages, but Bristol were able to grab the try which eventually won the game despite the visitors throwing everything at them.