IT was all smiles at Greenbridge Road on Saturday as Swindon began the season with a comfortable 35-13 bonus-point victory over Grove.

Swindon, who beat Grove home and away last season, knew they were in for a tough opening to their South West 1 East campaign but after a close first 20 minutes they grabbed control of the game.

Tries from Tom Mannion, Paul Daniels, Adam Westall and Ollie Willson secured maximum points for the home side, with Westall completing the scoring with his foot.

“It was a massive win for us,” said centre Cameron Brown, who felt that Swindon controlled the game after finding their feet in the first twenty minutes.

“Last season we were the only team to do the double over them home and away, so to get such a convincing win in the first game of the season is great and there were a lot of smiling faces after the game.

“It went really well, the first 20 minutes we were not at our best and we gave away a few penalties that were not converted fortunately.

“After we settled down we began to control the game a lot more.”

Swindon had a slightly different look about them for the start of the new season and Westall switching to full-back meant he was able to influence the game from deep.

“I think a lot of the players clicked quickly and we had some new faces in the team and changed some players around, like Westall playing at full-back which gave us a better kicking game from the back,” said Brown.

“We were trying to run the ball a bit more and I think a few of the penalties we gave away were due to it being the first game of the season.”

Swindon will now travel to league new-comers Leighton Buzzard, who beat Reading 13-26, on Saturday.

“We don’t know too much about them,” added Brown.

“We won’t really change what we are doing and we will go into the game full of confidence after this win.”