SWINDON may have been depleted, but they nonetheless said ‘I do’ to a season-opening victory against Windsor last weekend.

A host of key players and head coach Sean Lynn were all missing for Saturday’s curtain-raiser at Greenbridge Road as they attended the wedding of back-rower Steven Tait, but Swindon gritted their teeth and battled their way to a fine 20-17 win.

The home side had to weather the storm at times, playing a portion of the second half with two players in the sin bin, but team manager Paul Ferrier, who took charge alongside Martin Popowicz, was delighted with the impact his second-team players had in their teammates’ absence.

“(Windsor) were third in the league last season and we were fourth,” said Ferrier, whose side were also without injured duo Mike Thompson and George Lee.

“We beat them by one point here and got a thumping there, so they came here whoopee, which we thought they would but the guys, especially some of the seconds that came in, stepped up to the plate big time.

“It was combative and everything else, and it was superb.

“On Tuesday, we were worried, but on Thursday, after training, things started to come together. A few of the seconds came in and on the training ground, we saw quality.

“The guys came through and Martin and I are really chuffed.

“Steve Tait, whose wedding most of the boys were at, posted on Facebook about making it a double celebration so it’s a great start.

“We’ve got three home games out of the first four and that gives us a great platform to build on.”

Swindon got off to a flying start as they capitalised on a Windsor fumble, allowing Nick Warren to cross the line and debutant number 10 Tom Law, deputising for captain Adam Westall, to kick the conversion.

Wing Mark Chatwin gave an opponent the slip to touch down out wide and make it 12-0 but Windsor finally bared their teeth and hit back with two tries of their own, one of which was converted, to tie up the scores.

But back came the home side and courtesy of a Law penalty and an unconverted try from Adam Whitaker, the home side took an eight-point league into the break.

Swindon weren’t to add to their tally in the second period as Windsor mounted a fightback but they only crossed the line once and despite the hosts at one point having a two-man disadvantage, they held the visitors at bay to secure victory.