SWINDON will have to learn to vary their game now the winter months are drawing in after suffering their first home defeat of the season against Salisbury.

In wet conditions, Swindon struggled to get their free-flowing style going and mistakes led to a clinical Salisbury side taking the points with a 19-7 victory.

The visitors were able to lift themselves level on points with Swindon, who are now fifth, in the South West One East, and scrum-half Connal Knott says his team must learn from their mistakes.

“The result didn’t go our way but you can’t win them all,” he said. “That was our first defeat at home, which is disappointing, but Salisbury were a very well-drilled side.

“Once they got into our end of the pitch, they always came away with points, but when we got into their end of the pitch we struggled to score points.

“We weren’t very clinical when we got into their 22.

“In the first 20 minutes, we controlled the game quite well but they scored a try off an error of ours and they gained momentum with that score and never really looked back.

“It was a horrible day. It was pouring it down with rain and they adapted to the weather conditions and we didn’t.”

Swindon have become known over recent years as a bit of a fair weather side and Knott knows that they must be more patient with the ball in hand if they are to challenge the top of the league.

“We like to play our fast expansive rugby, but we can’t play that all the time and we need to vary our game up a little bit,” he added.

“Once we get into clinical positions, we need to be very patient and let the phases build.

“However, we might panic because we don’t play that kind of rugby and we will have to learn.

“You learn from your mistakes and we can take lessons away from Saturday’s game.

“The winter months are coming now and it is going to be a more forward-orientated game for the next eight weeks so if we can vary our game and get the players adapting, then we will be fine.

“The breaks have not helped us either and we have another weekend off this Saturday with the World Cup final. We then come back and we have an away game with Leighton Buzzard, which is a massive game.”