A SLOPPY second-half display condemned Swindon St George to their first defeat of the new West of England League season in their first home match at Greenbridge Road in 2011.

After beating Bristol Sonics 2nds 32-28 on the road last weekend, Al Scarbrough’s side entertained Wiltshire Wyverns on Saturday, but shipped 32 unanswered points after the break despite a solid opening 40 minutes.

St George were not helped before the kick-off by the late withdrawals of half-backs Warren Broadley and Chris Coupar and hooker Chris Kent through injury.

Scarbrough’s enforced reshuffle of his starting 13, however, did not seem to cause too many difficulties.

On the opening possession Swindon produced a near-immaculate set of six before Milo Hartley almost picked out Nick Jordan, unmarked on the wing, with a delicate chip.

The close call sparked the visitors into life, and soon Wyverns took the lead as their powerful prop barged over.

Moments later the away side doubled their advantage through their loose forward making the most of strong driving down the middle, and the visiting three-quarters extended the lead to 12-0 after a swift passing move.

Swindon, in danger of capitulation, responded. Making the most of a player advantage after a Wyverns defender was sin-binned for holding the tackle too long, St George hooker Chris Flynn powered through for the hosts’ first try of the afternoon from dummy half.

Almost straight from the restart Swindon got themselves right back in the game.

Mike Thompson offloaded to Ben Bridson to cross the whitewash and make the score 12-8 in Wyverns’ favour at half time.

Whatever was said at the break galvanised the visitors, but they were helped by reckless indiscipline on the part of the Swindon side.

Hartley was sin-binned and captain Terry Martin sent off for kicking out in the tackle, and while Wiltshire also had a man sin-binned, the permanent numbers advantage began to tell off.

Swindon lost their composure, Wyverns ran riot, and claimed an eventually comfortable victory.

St George coach Scarbrough was disappointed with the result, but not the effort of his team.

“After losing key playmakers to injury before the game, we knew it might be difficult to get our offence moving,” he said.

“The Wyverns pack were on top so we couldn’t get any momentum going.

“However, the team worked hard for the full 80 minutes and I couldn’t ask anymore from them than that. We’ll regroup at training on Wednesday and we’ll be ready for our next game against Oxford.”

Swindon St George travel to play the Oxford Cavaliers on Saturday 21 May at Oxford RFC, North Hinksey. Kick off is at 2.30pm.

Live commentary of the game is available via Twitter, follow @swindonstgeorge.