SWINDON rounded off their historic season with a 32-17 defeat of Wootton Bassett on Saturday, a result that ended their local rivals’ hopes of promotion from Southern Counties North.

Bassett went into the tie at Stoneover Lane knowing nothing but a win would help them leapfrog Aylesbury into second spot in the league table, and secure a play-off date.

But their aspirations were quickly dashed as Swindon paired powerful running in the centres with electric pace on the break to put daylight between the sides early on.

And although the hosts rallied in the second period to pressurise their guests at the breakdown, causing a series of unforced errors, Neil Loader’s men had already built a lead strong enough to seal a bonus-points win.

Head coach Loader was delighted with the result, branding it a fitting end to a near-perfect season for his gallivanting Swindon outfit, who will likely be plying their trade in South West 1 East from September.

“I guess it was a good way to finish off the season, winning away from home at your close rivals,” he said.

“In the end I felt pretty comfortable throughout. We had enough to beat them, although they did very well at the breakdown and caused us a few problems there.

“We’re just very happy to have ended on a good and positive note.”

Stoneover Lane was awash with visiting blue shirts at the weekend, as Swindon’s victorious first, second and third-team squads came together to back Loader’s troops to a win on the final day.

And that sense of togetherness bodes well for the future, the Greenbridge Road boss suggested, as Swindon look forward to the next step of their plan to bring National League rugby to the town.

“You could see there were so many blue shirts at the game, and that says everything about the club,” said Loader.

“Not many clubs can boast that, and it shows how everyone is in this together.

“It’s a great way to be setting our sights on South West 1 rugby and hopefully we can add a few more faces to it over the summer and look to settle at a higher level.”

Swindon shot out of the blocks on Saturday, taking advantage of early missed penalties by Bassett 10 Dave Hogg to find space out wide for Cory Lotter to topple over the whitewash.

Adam Westall tapped over a penalty of his own to put Swindon eight points ahead, before Andy Phoenix hauled Bassett back into the contest with a superb burst of pace down the right wing, finishing with a dive into the corner.

The home side continued pressing up to half time, but Swindon were irresistible on the counter-attack and ran in two further tries before the break.

After the interval the teams exchanged touch downs, with the visitors keeping the home side at arm’s length throughout, and Swindon retained remarkable control on proceedings despite isolated periods of Bassett pressure.

“I thought we did very well considering we were missing players and had nine different people in there from when we beat them earlier in the year,” said Loader.

“Their gameplan was simple but we had to deal with it. They caused us a few problems but we were pretty happy how we played.”