SUPERMARINE coach Gavin Russ reckons the club are benefitting from a changed culture at South Marston after they made it two wins from two in Dorset & Wilts One North at the weekend.

The coach’s son George landed a late penalty for the home side as they downed Melksham 23-22 in their first home match of the campaign to follow up the previous weekend’s triumph at Swindon 2nd.

Marine struggled last season, winning only six of 22 league games to finish third bottom, but Russ can already sense the improvement this term.

“There’s a different culture and vibe about the club and we’ve had a good start to this season really,’’ said Russ, who saw props Macauley Reynolds and Ryan Thompson score tries, with Russ junior contributing a total of 13 points with the boot.

“We’ve tried to do things a bit differently. We haven’t gone out and beasted anybody and the commitment has been a lot better.

“Last season we were two down by this stage so to be two (wins) up is already better and there is a real belief that we are going in the right direction.’’ Swindon College Old Boys chalked up a notable scalp in Southern Counties South as they lowered the colours of Swanage & Wareham 21-8 at Pipers Way on Saturday.

Tucker Blinkhorn crossed for a brace of tries, while Florin Palcau also touched down and landed three conversions for the home side.

Head coach Martin Lloyd said: “It was a great game for us, really enjoyable, and it was a great result too.

“Swanage came down with a full side so there were no excuses on that score.

“We were pretty slow for the first 15 minutes but then we really go our off-loading game going and stuck to our game.

“We’re fairly confident in our defence and we showed that in pre-season, even though we had a bit of a blip against Blandford (an opening weekend defeat). We also had 20 or so people away or injured so there is still more to come.’’

Blinkhorn’s first try came after a move involving several pairs of hands and a break by Scott Douglas from the wing, with skipper Gareth Davies setting up Blinkhorn’s second and Palcau taking advantage of a quickly-tapped penalty for the third.

In South West One East, Royal Wootton Bassett still await their first win of the campaign, but did at least earn a bonus point from their 20-14 reverse at Oxford Harlequins.

Fin Dewar crossed for a try in the first half for the visitors, with Ieuan Clements converting.

Prop Chris Patterson touched down in the second period, again converted by Clements.

Swindon also suffered defeat, going down 34-21 at Old Centralians despite a battling performance in which they just failed to earn a bonus point.

Mike Panaho, Josh Jenson and Jack Badminton crossed for tries for the visitors, who were left aggrieved at being denied a try with the last play of the game, with the referee adjudging that the ball had been held up.