ROYAL Wootton Bassett head coach Alan Low admits his steam are feeling the pain in more ways than one after a 21-14 reverse at Grove condemned them to a third straight defeat in South West One East.

The Oxfordshire side moved level on points with Low’s fourth-placed troops as they turned around a six-point half-time deficit to claim the four points.

The Bassett chief feels the effects of a crippling injury list are beginning to tell on the Ballards Ash men, who have slipped off the pace set by the top three of Old Patesians, Maidenhead and Newbury Blues, who they host this coming Saturday.

“The injury toll is absolutely massive and we’ve missed a lot of players,’’ admitted Low.

“(Against Grove) we had only two players playing in their regular positions in the back line.’’ Skipper Dave Hogg booted Bassett into the lead with a 12th-minute penalty but Bassett lost prop Simon Anderton to an injury, which required a 20-minute delay before he walked gingerly off the field, before Hogg added another penalty before the break.

Grove used the conditions in their favour after the interval and seized the lead through a converted try in between Bassett losing second row Sam Robinson and Hogg to yellow cards.

A further two Grove tries followed before Bassett earned a bonus point as Daniel Rees’ superb run from his own half saw him held up short, allowing fly-half Ieuan Clements to go over for the visitors.

Low, who admitted both sets of players struggled to come to terms with refereeing interpretations throughout, added: “We felt we should have had enough on the pitch to get the job done.

“Saturday was better but we didn’t get points on the board, even though we felt we should have had two penalty tries in the first half.

“We had a lot of ball and we couldn’t convert it but it was an improved performance from us and the guys out there did a fantastic job.’’

Swindon also lost out at the weekend as Chippenham completed a league double with a 17-5 triumph, having defeated Bassett a week earlier.