SWINDON inflicted a first away defeat of the season on Royal Wootton Bassett as they came from behind to claim the local bragging rights with a 17-5 win.

In front of a good crowd at Greenbridge Road, the visitors took the lead when a well-worked phase saw Connor Tomley break two challenges before feeding full-back Daniel Rees to go over the line.

The conversion was missed and when Swindon fly-half Adam Westall went off with concussion, it looked like Bassett could gain a stranglehold on the contest.

However, Swindon rallied when they capitalised on a missed pass from Bassett in the midfield, the loose ball being kicked forward before being touched over the line by Oliver Wilson.

A well-worked set-piece then saw Swindon move the ball across the pitch for Wilson to get his second of the game to edge the hosts further ahead before the break, with a penalty shortly after the restart giving them a 17-5 advantage.

Swindon were forced to dig deep for much of the second period, defending their 22 for large spells, but prevented Bassett scoring a second-half point to claim the win.

“We were talking all week about sticking to the structure and sticking to the plan, and the boys did that,” said head coach Sean Lynn.

“You can’t fault that. We kept to our structure even after our key man, Adam Westall, went off in the first 15 minutes.

“When they took the lead, the message was to keep composed and to attack them because they are very good up front. They have some very good forwards and I felt we could get on the edges a little bit and spread them.

“That is what we did and how we got our tries really.

“The bonus for us is they left here with no points at all, not even a losing bonus point – we were on our game and there is more to come from us.”

Bassett boss Alan Low was left disappointed by his side’s lack of a cutting edge but says there are plenty of lessons to take away from only their third defeat of the season.

“We looked at the game and 75 per cent was played in the two Swindon 22s, or the 40m zone, and it was just our execution that cost us,” he said.

“We panicked and Swindon defended very well. Their breakdown work was exceptional.

“We felt it was one of those that just got away from us and it was down to our execution.

“We had a good start, took the sting out of the tail, and we had plenty of opportunities but we didn’t take them when they presented themselves and popped the ball up at critical times.

“We’ve got a young squad, and for most, it was their first local derby and it might just have fazed them.”