SWINDON St George match day manager Matt Davies described the loss of winger Jakob Kauusberg to an ankle injury as a ‘huge miss’ for his side.

Kauusberg was newly recruited this season and has made a big impact at the Greenbridge Road side having scored a number of tries and impressing with his ability in attack.

But in the 52nd minute of St George’s 58-20 defeat to Gloucestershire Warriors, Kauusberg was tackled and the was left in pain after having the Gloucester man’s full weight on top of it.

The game had to be paused for 20 minutes while the ambulance came to treat the winger’s dislocated and fractured ankle.

The delay came at a crucial point in the game.

St George were 36-8 down at half-time, with only unconverted tries from Dan Brown and George Cowley to show for the opening 40 minutes.

Immediately after the break Mike Thompson had gone over twice in quick succession, with Gwyn Jenkins adding the extras as St George pulled the score back to 36-20.

Then Kauusberg’s misfortune struck at a point Davies thought his side had the momentum.

“We were fighting back into it all the way when one of our lads broke his ankle and the momentum swung back to them,” Davies said.

“Although it looked like a heavy defeat the game really turned at that point.

“He (Kauusberg) is a really good player and always in the thick of it. It was not a nasty tackle, he (Kauusberg) fell down on it and the other guy landed on it as well, that’s his season over.

“(It’ll be a) huge miss for us, he’s one of our new players and he’s been a real success. He will be sorely missed, but we’ve got Matty Dickens, and some other players who can play there and it what it is.”

St George again found themselves wanting in defence, especially after Kauusberg’s injury, conceding four unanswered tries.

And Davies reiterated the words of captain Cowley and coach Carl Baker in recent weeks in acknowledging his side must improve in their cohesion as a defensive line.

“Some guys here are quicker than others, one of our strengths is that we’ve got some big guys, in defence they’re slower getting out, for us it’s about learning to play as a team, learning to defend together,” he said.

“The league season is short, we need to learn quicker, this year for us is about next season, some of those boys have never played league before so we’re improving.

“For some reason we seem to start or finish badly, the middle 40 minutes before half-time and after half-time we get back in the game, it was no different this week, it’s got to turn around sooner or later, what we need now is just a win.”