SWINDON St George team manager Jakob Kauusberg reckons it could be make or break for his side’s title chances as early as today.

St George only began their West of England Pool Two programme on May 14, getting off to a stylish start with an emphatic 42-22 success away at Somerset Vikings.

They are now gearing up for their second game of the campaign this afternoon, away at a Cheltenham Phoenix side currently sitting pretty at the top of the table with two wins from two Phoenix have already swept aside Vikings and Southampton Spitfires – Forest Bulldogs complete the five-strong group – and with both them and Swindon expected to be the chief challengers for pool glory, Kauusberg’s side cannot afford to lose ground on their rivals.

“We think it will be a title decider already. We are both favourites to win this pool, so it’s a really big game to have so early on in the season,” said Kauusberg.

“I think we are the strongest two teams in this pool, so it will probably end up being between us.

“It’s a tough game but one we look forward to and one we want to do well in. Our plan is to start with a forwards game and try to break it up the middle and then get the ball out wide, as we know that’s where we are strong.

“We have got to look to try to win this pool. That’s our objective going into the season.”

St George were due to host Forest Bulldogs at Supermarine RFC on May 21 but that match was postponed, meaning the Phoenix fixture will be their first run out for three weeks.

With so much potentially riding on the game in Cheltenham, Kauusberg hopes the enforced break does not mean Swindon will be caught cold.

“We had a good pre-season. I think we played three games and also a nines tournament, so we really hit the ground running,” said the St George boss.

“We got the season off to a winning start but our second game was postponed, so we have had a couple of weeks off now.

“Hopefully that doesn’t affect us because we’ve been really pleased with how we have started the season.”

St George are in rude health at the moment and an influx in players over the summer has even allowed them to set up a second-team fixture away at Gloucester this weekend.

Kauusberg added: “We added a few good players over the summer and retained a lot of the guys we had last year too, so we have got a good group of players here now to choose from.”