SWINDON coach Nick Brooks says adverse weather conditions may have played into his side’s favour after a crushing 43-0 victory over Thatcham at the weekend.

Brooks’ team ran in seven tries as they strolled to their fifth win of the season in all competitions – and fourth in Southern Counties South – while the rain belted down in Berkshire.

The Greenbridge Road side had often been accused of not engaging in the full 80 minutes by their captain Mike Thompson, even when in winning positions, but Brooks felt this was not the case against Thatcham.

The Swindon coach argued the greasy ball and unstable conditions under foot may have acted as the stabiliser for his players in ensuring they stayed on track for the full game.

Brooks said: “We were able to maintain our concentration for the full 80 minutes. We didn’t lose confidence in ourselves and how we play.

“Previously, we had got a little too confident and lost concentration, but with the conditions playing the way they were, we had to concentrate hard to minimise our mistakes.

“In hindsight, the weather actually helped us because we had to focus hard on the basic skills and then we were able to maintain our structure.

“We put them under a lot of pressure and were able to grind them down.”

Swindon’s third league win in a row pushes them up to fourth in the table as they hunt an immediate return to South West One East.

Brooks insists no one at the club is thinking about promotion just yet, but the vast improvement in performance from the majority of last year has not been lost on any of the coaching staff nor the players.

He said: “The guys are really starting to click now, and the trust between themselves and the systems we’ve got in play is evident.

“The momentum is now rolling because every week is another brick in the foundation of us being able to play rugby the way we want to again.

“That’s where the guys are doing so well – because they can see what we’re trying to do and they can feel it as well.”

Elsewhere in Southern Counties South, Swindon College Old Boys went down 17-5 away at Yeovil.

Meanwhile in South West One East, Royal Wootton Bassett maintained their 100 per cent record with a hard-fought 13-3 victory away at Wimborne.

Extremely tough handling conditions in Dorset meant Alan Low’s team would drop a point for the first time all season, but Bassett made an ideal start as they hunted their eighth-straight win.

With the wind at their backs, Joshua McCafferty forced his way over in the corner following a short-range lineout after only 10 minutes for the only try of the game, with Troy Cusack adding the extras.

Bassett continued to pen their hosts back towards their own try-line, but lineouts had become difficult to control and a number of them were lost to the defending side.

With a number of handing errors preventing any real flow to the game, there was to be no further scoring before the half-time interval.

After the restart, Bassett immediately put Wimborne on the backfoot and extended their lead to 10-0 when Wimborne transgressed at the breakdown and Cusack added the penalty.

With 10 minutes remaining, Bassett were adjudged to be offside and Wimborne duly slotted the penalty through to give them the possibility of the losing point bonus.

However, Cusack added another late penalty for Bassett to record a 10-point victory and stay four clear of Old Centralians at the top.

Finally, Supermarine were beaten 58-5 away at Swindon 2nd in Dorset & Wilts Two North.