SWINDON St George missed out on hat-trick of wins in the South West League West of England Super Fives competition, but had the consolation of claiming a home semi-final following their 44-20 defeat against All Golds.

Ben Whincup’s side still had an outside of chance of finishing top of the group table when they took on leaders All Golds at Supermarine RFC on Saturday.

Although the quality of the visitors from Cheltenham came through in the end, results elsewhere saw St George failed to be overhauled in second place and they will now host Reading Raiders in the semi-finals of the competition this weekend.

Henry Beer, Scott Douglas, Liam Rowe and Paul Sidge all crossed the whitewash for Swindon, and coach Whincup felt his side put in a much stronger performance than the scoreline might suggest.

“It wasn’t the result that we wanted on Saturday, but we have ended up second in the table with a home semi-final, and that was the objective at the start of the Super Fives,” said Whincup.

“All Golds are a very good side with loads of experience.

“They have got four or five players who have played professionally, whereas I don’t think we have got one professional appearance between our squad. That was the difference in the end.

“We were well into the match up until about 65 minutes when injuries took their toll. We’d emptied the bench and there wasn’t anything else we could do. The guys were out on their feet.

“I don’t think it was a 24-point game, that was harsh on us because we had pushed them much closer than that.

“All Golds are the best side in this competition and we felt like we ran them pretty hard for most of the match, so there are loads of positives for us to take out of the game.”

Swindon will go for a place in the final of the Super Fives when they host Reading in the last four at Supermarine on Saturday.