ROYAL Wootton Bassett raised the standard as they returned to winning ways against Windsor at the weekend.

Alan Low’s side went into last weekend’s break having suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since their promotion to South West One East last season.

A surprise defeat at home to Witney was followed up by a loss away to local rivals Swindon, with no action last weekend.

Low was looking for his side to return to basics when they played host to Windsor on Saturday and he believes having the pressure off played to their advantage.

Bassett completed a 41-15 win over second-from-bottom Windsor to maintain fourth place in the division, just nine points off new leaders Old Patesians – a side Bassett narrowly beat away from home earlier in the season.

“It was a much better performance from us this weekend,” said Low. “We had a bit more intensity to our game and we looked like the side we were the first five or six weeks of the season.

“We started quite well, got some parity up front and our execution was a lot higher.

“We managed to put them under some immediate pressure from the kick-off and just played our way into the game, which is probably one of the things we didn’t do the week before the break.

“We showed an awful lot more composure, which is good, and it is good to see the guys are listening and that transgressed onto the field.

“I’d like to say it was a bit of the pressure coming off. Although we played down the local derby, it was one of those games and it probably got to the younger lads.

“We had a couple of boys back and a few new faces, so it was good.”

Meanwhile, it was a weekend to forget for Sean Lynn’s Swindon side as they were humbled 41-12 at Greenmeadow.

Swindon went into the final break before Christmas having won three of their last four however, with the weather beginning to turn for the worse, they were unable to follow up that run of good form and fell to 10th as a result.