SWINDON St George got their South West League West of England Championship Super Fives bid off to a slow start as they were thumped 62-6 by Reading Raiders on Saturday.

Skipper Connor Tomley led his team into the first game of the competition on the back of a disappointing draw to Somerset Vikings, who took the league title.

Liam Rowe got the points for St George, in what was a disappointing day for Ben Whincup’s side, who did have a couple of injury problems.

Captain Tomley said: “It wasn’t the result we were looking for. I don’t know if we underestimated them. I don’t know what happened, to be honest.

“We started off strongly and then we just lost our heads a little bit. We had quite a few injuries on top of that too. I think we had three in total, so that didn’t help.

“We did the basics right to start with, then they were able to run in a couple of easy tries and we lost all confidence.

“It’s not one of the things you want to happen and it has knocked the confidence of the team. It’s not the start we wanted.

“We wanted to win but it was frustrating. There are other games that we can win, but it depends how the boys turn it around.”

Tomely took over as captain at the start of the campaign and despite suffering with injuries, believes it has been a good season overall.

However, those injuries have taken their toll and Tomley will step down as skipper for the club’s next game.

Jamie Deal will take over when St George return to action on July 14.

“With all the injuries I’ve had, I want to give myself and my body a rest for the rugby union season,” said Tomley.

“The year itself has been good. For myself, it has been hit and miss, but it’s been a good season all round I would say.

“We had a couple of good games and then we switched off, then we’d have a couple of bad games and we would turn it back on again.

“We didn’t have any consistency but the boys gave it their all and I can’t ask for much more than that.”