11:20am Friday 12th March 2010
SWINDON coach Neil Loader has been forced into mass changes to his starting 15 ahead of his side’s Southern Counties North tie with Grove tomorrow.
The fixture, re-arranged from the period of inclement weather at the turn of the year, falls on a previously unscheduled weekend of matches meaning that several players have booked holiday and made themselves unavailable.
Loader, pictured right, conceded that there was nothing he could do to prevent the exodus of players for the clash, and recognised tapping in on the team spirit which has been brewing at Greenbridge Road in the past few weeks would be key in claiming a result on the road.
“Obviously seeing as they are amateurs there is very little that can stop them from going out and enjoying themselves,” he said.
“Some of the guys are going to watch the international in Scotland, one is off to Spain and another is going skiing.
“I’m hoping Grove will have similar problems, but I am certain our guys coming in can do a job for us.”
The list of absentees for Swindon is lengthy with Pete Atkinson, Neil Maycock, Scott Chapman, Paul Wakefield, Connell Knott and Richard Lowe all away. Ben Saville, Ian Reynolds, Paul Daniels, Matt Allen and Nathan Waite come into the side with Fraser Brown moving to scrum-half from full-back, Jack Badminton slotting in at 15 and Joe Williams starting in the centres.
“I’m fairly confident we can go there and get a result,” said Loader.
“We can really see our squad depth come into play now.”
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