CHIPPENHAM RFC head coach Danny Thomas insists he never expected a procession towards the South West One East title amid his side’s worrying dip in form.

The Allington Fields outfit started the season like a train and swept all before them as they won each of their opening 16 league fixtures.

However, a 24-7 loss at Grove last Saturday was Chippenham’s second loss in their last three games and they have seen their advantage at the top of the table cut to five points as second-placed Towcestrians close in.

Head coach Thomas says he always thought the harsh winter fixtures would be the toughest for his side and added that no one at the club has taken their eye off the ball by thinking about what they could achieve this season.

“We always thought this period of the year was going to be tough,” said Thomas.

“The style of rugby we play is quite flowing but we are getting bogged down with the pitches at the moment. We need to find a way to counter that so it’s not an issue.

“We are not going to make any excuses about our results of late but hopefully we can get one or two more guys back from injury and unavailability to strengthen us up in the next few weeks. Those sorts of things all add up.

“We don’t look that far ahead and we’ll just concentrate on the next couple of matches we’ve got coming up and look to do as well as we can in those.

“Hopefully, come the end of the season, we will have enough points on the board to be in a position to challenge.”

Thomas says the mood in the Chippenham camp is still high despite the current blip and cited the recent 57-3 thrashing of local rivals Devizes as a reason to stay positive.

Chippenham have no game this weekend and Thomas is expecting his side to bounce back to form when they entertain Leighton Buzzard on Saturday week.

Thomas said: “The lads are all okay. We are an amateur team and the boys play for the love of the game. I don’t think they’ll get too distracted by the last couple of results.

“If we play to our best form we know we can pretty much beat anyone in the league, but that’s the same for everyone else as well because it’s so tight.

“We lost at home to Witney and then came back the next weekend and put 50 points on Devizes, so we know what we are capable of.”