TOWCESTRIANS made the best of the blustery conditions as they beat Swindon 24-10 at Greenbridge.

Both sides struggled with the conditions in the early stages of the contest, although Swindon were able to take an early lead through an Adam Westall penalty, but that was as good as it got for the hosts in the opening period as the visitors scored three tries through Matt Yuhill, Harry Hopewell and Sam Sturley to lead at the interval.

The Northamptonshire side continued to dominate after the break, although Hayden Ambler did manage to break through for a try converted by Westall, but the visitors were able to see out the game to move ahead of Swindon into second place.

“They started well and used the wind to score a few but we came out of the break thinking we would have the advantage of it and that we could pin them back a bit,” he said.

“It didn’t quite happen like that, though, and they scored quite early on in the second-half and from there we weren’t really able to get back into it.

“It was a bad loss but we need to forget about it as quick as we can because we have some big games coming up in the next few weeks.

“We didn’t front up at all in defence, although we do play some nice rugby, but we don’t really want to get dragged into the tit for tat stuff which is what seems to be happening.

“It’s a shame because it was a good chance to put a bit of breathing space between us and third, and now we have to go to Windsor for another tough game.

“We don’t like losing at home, and we hadn’t done that for a while, so to lose was a hard one for us to take.”