Swindon 38-26 Guildford Giants

It was clear that the strong wind was going to have some affect on the game and the Giants would need to be fully focused to ensure they limited the amount of handling errors on the very open and exposed Swindon St George pitch.
Giants got off to a great start, with Karl Grigor running in a try after just 3 minutes. With confidence high Giants continued with a period of sustained attacking pressure. Swindon had barely got out of their half when Man of the match, Phil Pullen ran in the second try after 8 minutes. Doug Lawrence converted the kick as he did again ten minutes later when Gareth Blackstaffe-Turner, who pushed Pullen close for man of the match, finished of a well worked move where Grigor took a good line, took a big hit but stayed strong and was able to offload the ball to Blackstaffe-Turner who ran in to take the score to16 – 0.
Despite only having 15 players in the squad, the Giants really took the game to St George who had a full set of subs to choose from. Gradually, St George pushed their way back into the game with strong running from a powerful centre pairing and closed the half with the score at 16 – 12 after running in 2 converted tries. Giants though would be one man down in the second half as Charlie Maguire, who up till then had been influencing a lot of the back play as he sustained a split lip after being punched in the tackle. Unfortunately for Giants and Maguire, a trip to Swindon hospital and 7 stitches to the lip later, Charlie would play no further part in the game.
With the wind continuing to reduce the impact of the kicking game, the second half began as the first finished with some hard attacking running from St George. Giants defence was really tested from the off and thanks to Phil Pullen ripping ball out of the opposing St George attacker, 5 yards out from the post, he ensured the Giants had a much needed respite from defensive duties. Winger Sandeep Ratnam and forward Lenny Jennings put in some strong hits and good support play, going about their jobs with unselfish commitment. Despite the hard work from Giants, St George scored on 50 minutes taking the score to 16 – 16. The defence again was tested for a the next 15 minutes with really strong work put in by Anthony Lynch, Brain Stokes, Karl Grigor, Adam Cox and Alex Maguire who all worked tirelessly to keep out the barrage of St George attack. Doug Lawrence ran in a deserved try, from a St. George spilled ball, to go with his three conversions on the day. With the scores at 20 – 16, St George continued their period of pressure, and quickly replied, again utilising their strong centre pairing and scored two tries and one conversion within three minutes taking the score to 26 -20. Giants worked hard to retain possession and the pressure seemed to pay off when Alex Maguire went over under the post, after a really strong full team play, only for the ref to disallow the try. The remaining 7 minutes saw St George running in two converted tries. Adam Cox rounded off an excellent personal game scoring just prior to the final whistle.
Giants must take heart from this display against a full strength and established side. Small indiscipline and the occasional needless penalty will need to be ironed out but the hard work and endeavour that the team displayed across the park, coupled with exciting attacking play from the whole Giants team, bodes well for the coming season.