SWINDON earned themselves a priceless four points in their battle with fellow South West One East strugglers Bicester with a 16-12 win on Saturday.

The Greenbridge Road side picked up their second victory on the road in succession - and third success in four matches - as they toughed it out in difficult conditions in Oxfordshire.

Wayne Lower crossed for the visitors' solitary try, while Adam Westall added the balance of points with the conversion and three further penalties to wrap it up.

Skipper Mike Thompson admitted: “It was a scrappy game in the wet and cold but we got a much-needed win.’’

The news was less good for Royal Wootton Bassett, who slipped to a 6-0 defeat in murky conditions at Grove.

The Ballards Ash men have now lost their last two games, having gone five unbeaten prior to that to move comfortably into mid-table.

The visitors suffered a double blow when second row and skipper Dave Hogg had to leave the field with a knee injury, followed shortly afterwards by centre Michael Barrell, who suffered an ankle injury.

This disrupted Bassett, who remained on the back foot and in the 26th minute, second row Sam Robinson received a yellow card following an offence at the ruck.

Grove struck the resulting penalty to lead 3-0 and the match began to descend into a series of flare-ups.

Bassett were reduced to 13 men when Kyle Lovell was yellow-carded at another breakdown before an injury-time incident saw prop Simon Anderton sin-binned alongside a Grove opponent.

The second half was nearly one-way traffic as Bassett took control of the match but they were let down by persistent stoppages and poor handling in the back division.

Both sides were again reduced to 14 when prop Chris Rowland and an opponent were yellow-carded.

Bassett continued to press but a late Grove breakaway saw them add a second penalty to wrap up the win.