A DEPLETED Royal Wootton Bassett side had their cup dreams dashed on Saturday as they fell to a 33-7 defeat at the hands of Salisbury.

Alan Low’s side travelled south in the semi-final of the Dorset & Wilts Cup but, with several first team players missing, were unable to book a place in the final.

Bassett made the trip with 12 players who were regular second team squad members and, despite their inexperience, Low was pleased by their performance.

Played in terrible conditions with driving wind and rain making handling difficult, Bassett conceded an early penalty try.

Salisbury’s Dave Tonge went on to score a brace to add to a try from Tom Pottage to book the hosts’ place in the final.

“If you broke the game down at half-time, it was 25-0 and then 7-8 in the second half, so actually the guys did really well,” said Low.

“There were three guys making senior debuts and, if we took the full-back out of our back line, the average age was 20.

“In terrible conditions, the players were able to go up there and play. The difference between the two sides was the forward pack.”

Bassett handed starts to Colts players Connor Tomley and Joe Patchett, who both impressed on the day and will be pushing for more first team games in the future.

“It’s great that we are starting to get these players coming through,” added Low.

“We have had a bit of a gap with players coming through but being able to offer these players the opportunity to come up and test their skills in the first team; they have been doing really well.

“The current set of colts are going fantastically, running two squads every week, so these guys are going to be pushing over the next couple of weeks to come up and make an impact.”