INJURIES are continuing to blight Royal Wootton Bassett’s South West One East campaign as they fell to a fifth successive defeat at the weekend.

Alan Low’s side travelled to Old Centralians with a makeshift back line and having failed to take their chances when they presented themselves, fell to a 26-11 loss.

Gloucester-based Centralians, who were playing two divisions above Bassett last season in National League Three South, started at a blistering pace and scored two tries inside the opening 10 minutes to take control of the contest.

Bassett were able to see out the remainder of the half without slipping further behind before getting themselves on the board.

However, two scores in the second half for the hosts put the game to bed and left Bassett with just one win in their last eight outings.

“Not a lot has changed for us at the moment injury-wise,” explained Low.

“We’re getting the performances right, the forwards played really well on Saturday but (Centralians) started superbly.

“The rugby they were playing in the first 20 minutes was amongst the best rugby I have seen in the league this year.

“They really pushed us in that first 10-minute period and if you look at it after that, it was 0-0 for the rest of the half against a severe slope.

“The boys acquitted themselves. We lost Josh McAfferty after 10 minutes in the back row, which made a difference to us.

“We had plenty of ball but the issue has been for us, turning possession into points with a limited back-line.

“The guys who came up did a really good job and in the second half, we got on the board and put them under pressure but we couldn’t turn that into enough points.

“They had two entries into our 22 and they scored with both of them - one of them was on 79 minutes so we came off thinking the score maybe flattered them a little bit.”

With the likes of Dan Sweeney, who was a colt last term, making his first-team debut at full-back, Low can’t be too down on his depleted troops but knows improvements need to be made to end this slump.

“We only had two backs playing in their first-choice positions so the guys did a good job,” he added.

“The job that is getting done at the moment, we need to improve that slightly.

“The forwards maybe need to take on more responsibility while we have got these injuries.”

Meanwhile, Swindon continue to struggle as they slipped to a 32-31 defeat at Newbury Blues.

Sean Lynn’s side have now lost their last six matches.