ROYAL Wootton Bassett head coach Alan Low was left fuming after his side failed to turn up against Marlow at the weekend.

Despite dominating the scrum, Bassett were unable to turn their possession into tries and came away from the game on the back of a 17-5 defeat.

“I was massively frustrated to be honest, we struggled to adapt to the refereeing style at the weekend and we just didn’t perform,” said Low.

“We came off the field after the warm up and it was probably the best warm up we have had for a long time at the club.

“We came out and collectively I felt they just weren’t ready and Marlow got an early score and the heads went down.

“Nobody walks on to a field with the attitude like it was, it was just one of those things that I can’t work out why and we’ll have to review how we warm up in training this week.

“I think 90 per cent of their scrum ball we were winning, but we didn’t capitalise on that advantage and make it work for us.

“We weren’t controlling the ball in the backs and the forwards didn’t take on the responsibility they needed to.

“I know Marlow are now second in the league but they were in essence quite a poor side.”

It took a phone call to calm Low down after Saturday’s defeat, which left them eighth in the league.

After the match he was informed that the second XV had beaten Melksham 27-12, while the third XV had beaten Swindon 17-3, to put the weekend into a better light for Low.

“I was cheered up when I got a phone call to say the seconds had won and so had the thirds,” he added.

“What was really good to hear was that the third XV were playing Swindon and both sides had in excess of 20 players turning out for them.

“For community level rugby to have almost four teams turning out is a great achievement and it shows the good work that is going on.”